“Bare” Bones Budget for City

$1.00 www.oshawaexpress.ca “Well Written, Well Read” Vol 4 No 16 Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009 Cancer patients Hockey team to boycott Oshawa grateful for By Katie Strachan used, alleges he was brutally assaulted bad black eye.” on Saturday night because of a large The Oshawa Express on the weekend by a police officer out- When Don and the other father’s fight,” says Nancy van Rooy, communi- student side of the Tartan, a local bar. arrived at the Tartan after one of their cations officer for the Durham Regional donations A Cambridge man who was visiting “The cop hit him about eight or nine kids’ games, there was already eight or Police. Page 7 the city for his son’s hockey tournament times,” says Dave Anderson, a hockey nine police cruisers in the parking lot When Don attempted to enter the bar won’t be returning to Oshawa. Ever. dad, also from Cambridge, who wit- regarding a different incident, accord- he was stopped by one of the bouncers. And neither will the rest of his team. nessed the confrontation. “His tooth ing to Anderson. “He (Don) just asked the bouncer Don, who didn’t want his last name went right through his lip and he’s got a “The police were called to the Tartan See THE POLICE page 6 More affordable “Bare” homes bones needed By Cynthia McQueen budget The Oshawa Express Global Councillors in Oshawa say 29 warming units of new affordable homes in for city Oshawa are not enough to meet the needs of the city. inevitable While this is a step in the right By Cynthia McQueen Page 9 direction, “100 times this wouldn’t The Oshawa Express be enough,” says Brian Nicholson. Mary Menzies, director of hous- Oshawa city council has released ing services for the region of what it’s calling a bare essentials Durham said, “Just under 4,000 budget for consideration at council households are waiting for rent this week. geared-to-income assistance or sub- If approved, the budget allows sidized housing. And about 46 per “very little room to address existing cent of those applying live in infrastructure or respond to unexpect- Oshawa.” ed costs that could arise through the Beyond Oshawa being the com- year”, according to a report prepared munity most in need in Durham, by city staff. because the largest amount of rental About $4 million in cuts were properties are located here, the wait made to the total budget in order to times for subsidized housing is also see a 3.3 per cent increase, if the longest, explains Menzies. approved. “When we have a family who’s Some of the items the city hopes to willing to consider a vacant unit address with new funding are available anywhere in Oshawa, they libraries, the Oshawa Senior Citizens wait an average of 2.5 years for Centre and the much debated winter Oshawa Generals maintenance program. NEXT GAMES housing. And that’s if they’re flexi- ble,” said Menzies. In addition, there is a newly pro- • Friday, Feb. 13 The new housing starts will pro- posed hi-tech ecological community, VS Belleville Bulls vide low-income families, seniors various and sundry infrastructure projects such as roads, an operational at the GMC and people with special needs in Photo by Wally Donaldson/ The Oshawa Express Oshawa with 29 affordable homes and environmental service centre and • Sunday, Feb. 15 the harbourfront revitalization plan. after $2.03 million was budgeted for Net action in Brampton VS Oshawa through the Canada-Ontario All these capital projects identified Affordable Housing program Oshawa Generals’ goaltender Michael Zador maintains his focus while Sudbury Wolves’ for- for spending come with a price tag of the Batallions ward John Kurtz (12) waits for the point shot during last Sunday night’s Ontario Hockey $3.2 million. See 29 NEW page 6 League (OHL) outing at the GM Centre. See COUNCIL page 6 Female caseworker charged with sexual assault Two police cruisers windows smashed in robbery An Oshawa woman was charged with The allegations were based on incidents A liquor store robbery gone wrong result- The third man was arrested shortly after sexual assault after a developmentally chal- that occurred last year. ed in not one but two cruisers back wind- the first arrest on Crestwood Drive. lenged adult patient reported inappropriate The Oshawa woman has been charged shields smashed and one police constable After further investigation, police found sexual touching earlier this year. with three counts of sexual assault. assaulted. that several bottles of alcohol had been taken A 46 year-old employee at the Investigators are investigating if there After police responded to the alarm at the from the LCBO store. Association for Community Living was are any other victims. Rossland Road East LCBO, With the K-9 The 38 year-old man is charged with arrested recently after a lengthy investiga- Anyone with information on this matter unit in tow, police caught two of the three break, enter and theft, three counts of assault- tion into allegations of sexual assault made is asked to contact police at 1-888-579- suspects nearby on Oakwood Avenue, but not ing a police officer, three counts of mischief by a 36 year-old patient with the organiza- 1520 ext. 2738. without issue. under $5,000, assault with intent to resist tion. One of the men resisted arrest punching arrest and three counts of breach of proba- and kicking officers and eventually kicked tion. Toronto man arrested after approaching Oshawa girl out the rear windshield of one cruiser. Two Oshawa men, 19 and 21, were After the man was placed in shackles and charged with breaking and entering, theft and After a young girl was approached by a hoods and eventually arrested the suspect transferred to another cruiser, he kicked out breach. man asking for directions and offering a who was parked behind another local the back window again. The incident took place on Tues. Feb. 3 at ride in his car a Toronto man school in his vehicle. At the police station, he allegedly assault- approximately 12:20 p.m. was charged with criminal The incident took place on ed a special constable inside of a holding cell. harassment and intimidation. Feb. 5 at about 9:20 a.m. The accused tried to strike Durham Police Service would Bad weather doesn’t stop drinkers from driving up a conversation with the girl like to remind students to be outside of her Oshawa school aware of their surroundings at all The roads and slippery and driving is more tests, Durham Regional Police issued five 12- and eventually offered her a times and to report any unwanted dangerous, but that doesn’t stop people from hour suspensions and charged two people ride in his car. or strange contact with adults as drinking and driving. with impaired driving. The young girl ran away and soon as possible. Over some of the coldest and most treach- Three others were charged with exceeding reported the incident to school Anyone with information on erous days for drivers, RIDE programs the legal limit of 80 mg and one other person officials who contacted Durham Police. this matter is asked to contact Oshawa throughout the region found and charged five was charged with dangerous operation of a Police patrolled the nearby neighbour- police at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5342. drivers. vehicle. After conducting 31 roadside Breathalyzer Page 2 FEB 11 2009 Council spending at issue Transparency for budgets debatable at council By Cynthia McQueen has been a problem for the last five years as The Oshawa Express council attempts to identify an amount that will cover councillors needs. With the city budget just one week from “Five years ago, the budget for everything release, the issue of spending has been a soap- was $1,000. You couldn’t even send out a box opportunity at city council. newsletter for that (today),” explained Cullen. At the last meeting, councillors went around “We’re trying to find an amount that allows a the room at a dizzying pace over the allocation councillor to do what they have to while not of funds for attending conferences. being ridiculous.” Councillor Brian Nicholson said, “I have For councillor Tito- some real problems spend- Dante Marimpietri it’s all ing money to go to Whistler about money. in these tough economic “We must reach out and times.” seek to intelligently and The conference in ques- strategically scrape for tion is the Federation of every last penny, opportuni- Canadian Municipalities ty, and positive stimulus in (FCM) meeting in Whistler, policy, funding, or future British Columbia, in which prospect in positioning our the Prime Minister (Stephen Joe Kolodzie city and local economy for Tito-Dante Harper) and various minis- Oshawa's future,” he said. Marimpietri ters speak to councillors from across Canada. There is also a meeting of the Association of Councillor Joe Kolodzie pointed out, Municipalities in Ontario to be held in Ottawa, “We’re lobbying these peo- which was at issue. However, the concern was ple for the city of Oshawa so one of which budgets should be accessed, the we should meet them to city’s or the region’s. express our particular point According to regional and city councillor of view and we’re sharing John Neal, city councillors have an expense ideas with all the council- account of $4,000, whereas regional councillors across Canada.” lors are given $2,600 by the city and $10,000 Councillor April Cullen by the region. has attended such meetings For Neal, it’s a matter of discretion.

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