Oshawa Fire Services, the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council and Enbridge Gas Distribution have joined forces to distribute combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to Oshawa households in need through Project Zero.

Project Zero is an annual public education campaign made possible by the partnership between the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council and Enbridge Gas Distribution. The campaign aims to reduce the number of residential fire and carbon monoxide related deaths to zero.

As part of the campaign, Oshawa firefighters will distribute approximately 275 combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to Oshawa homes in need of this critical detection device during their door-to-door Alarmed for Life visits this summer. The alarms are donated by Enbridge Gas Distribution through the Project Zero campaign.

When properly installed and maintained, combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms help provide the early warning that is needed to safely escape from a house fire or carbon monoxide exposure.

Oshawa’s Project Zero campaign was announced on July 26 at the home of the 2016 Junior Fire Chief, Andrew Ulbrick, an Oshawa student who will enter Grade 7 this fall.

“Our Junior Fire Chief knows the importance of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors/alarms and the fact that they do save lives,” said Councillor Bob Chapman, Chair of the Community Services Committee. “We thank Enbridge Gas for their support to the Oshawa Fire Services in making it possible for 275 more homes to be equipped with this important device.”

Since 2009, Project Zero has been launched in 78 Ontario communities. This year, Enbridge invested $100,000 in the campaign, providing 3,330 alarms to residents in 15 Ontario municipalities. Visit www.firesafetycouncil.com/campaigns for more details.

For information about Enbridge Gas, visit the Enbridge Gas website.

For information about Oshawa Fire Services, visit our Oshawa Fire webpage.

Last night, members of Oshawa City Council, representatives from Oshawa Fire Services and Oshawa residents officially opened the doors of Fire Hall No. 6, located at 2339 Simcoe Street North.

On hand for the grand opening event were: Member of Provincial Parliament (Oshawa) Jennifer French, Oshawa Mayor John Henry and members of City Council, Fire Chief Steve Meringer, Deputy Fire Chiefs Steve Boyd and Derrick Clark and Fire Services staff. Representatives from the project team included Thomas Brown Architects and Gay Company Limited as well as Heritage Oshawa and the Oshawa Accessibility Advisory Committee were also at the festivities.

Throughout the evening, community members met local firefighters, participated in tours of fire trucks and the new fire hall. In addition, children had the opportunity to meet our mascots Rescue Ronnie and Sparky!

"Fire Hall No. 6 will play an important part in our City's fire safety and will enhance response to those living and working in the north end of our community," said Councillor Bob Chapman, Chair of the Community Services Committee. "In addition to providing appropriate fire response the hall is also a reflection of the Windfields Farm and its contribution to Oshawa."

Fire Hall No. 6 is a one-storey, 10,675-square-foot building including two bays. Fire Hall No. 6 includes facilities for full-time firefighters, fire department administration and fire prevention. Designed in accordance with the City’s accessibility guidelines, the new station features green initiatives such as drought-resistant landscaping, high-performance thermal windows, high-efficiency mechanical equipment, and L.E.D. lighting.

The design of Fire Hall No. 6 and its building materials complements the historical legacy of Windfields Farm. The total cost for the Fire Hall No. 6 project is $4 million, which includes the design, building and furnishings. The new station will be staffed by existing suppression staff and one pumper truck.

The new hall will serve the north end of Oshawa, including subdivisions in the Windfields Farm heritage area of Simcoe and Britannia, the Hamlet of Columbus and near the Highway 407 extension.

The City’s latest video for the Our Oshawa campaign captures Oshawa’s natural beauty and takes a closer look at one of the city’s most popular events: the Peony Festival. The video features Judi Denny, Ontario Director of the Canadian Peony Society talking about the Festival and its significance within the Oshawa community. The video highlights key aspects that make the Festival spectacular and shows why it is such a success year after year.

The Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens has hosted the Peony Festival for the past 12 years, which features one of Canada’s largest contemporary peony collections with over 300 varieties of the flower in the gardens. For the fourth year running, Oshawa’s Peony Festival has earned its place in the Top 100 Festivals & Events in Ontario (F.E.O.) for 2016. The Festival has something for everyone from beautiful flowers to music, food and workshops on how to improve your garden. Each year the Festival also holds an art and photo competition.

“It was great to see so many enjoying and participating in the Peony Festival,” says Councillor Amy McQuaid-England, Chair of the Corporate Services Committee. “With so many varieties of flowers on display throughout the gardens, they are a reflection of the rich cultural diversity that is shaping our City.”

Videos for the Our Oshawa campaign will continue to be filmed and released throughout the year, all with a central focus on achievement, culture and positivity within our community. Other videos in the series feature The Automotive Museum, The RMG and Spark Centre.

Residents are encouraged to share their stories about what Oshawa means to them online at Connect Oshawa. It is these stories that will inspire future videos and promotional materials, which will be available throughout the city and posted on the City’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

As part of the City of Oshawa’s commitment to openness, transparency and accountability, an open data pilot project and open data portal received City Council approval for implementation on the City’s website. It is anticipated that the City’s open data portal will be on the website fall 2016.

Open data is raw, digital, machine-readable information maintained in support of programs and services offered by the City and is accessible to everyone free of charge. The data is unrestricted by copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The benefits of open data include fostering innovation, stimulating economic growth, improved government service delivery as well as increased internal efficiencies. Entrepreneurs, academics, residents and community organizations will benefit from the available information to create new applications. The implementation of an open data initiative will complement the existing open information and open dialogue City initiatives already available.

The City’s award-winning website provides a wealth of open information related to City services, facilities, programs, news, notices and alerts. Committee and Council agendas, reports and minutes are available online along with web-streamed meeting videos providing residents with transparent access to the City’s governmental process.

The addition of an open data portal will also complement the existing open dialogue initiatives that exist through the Connect Oshawa website (www.connectoshawa.ca), social media, public open houses and information centres, online chat services and Service Oshawa.

“The open data pilot project is another example of the City’s commitment to improving public engagement and enhancing transparency and accountability,” said Councillor Amy McQuaid-England, Chair of the Corporate Services Committee. “We look forward to receiving public feedback on the initial data sets as well as potential data sets to be released in the future.”

The initial data sets will include:

• City’s parcel and property fabric, street network, zoning and existing land use data;

• Animal Services statistics, including intake and outcome data;

• Service and information request statistics generated by Service Oshawa;

• Parking facilities in the downtown area, including on-street, service lots and parking garages; and,

• Housing licenses, including two-unit housing registrations and property licences issued under the residential rental housing regulations.

Open data is a growing trend for governments around the world and a number of Canadian municipalities of various sizes have also implemented open data portals. For more information on the City of Oshawa, visit www.oshawa.ca.

A vibrant arts and culture scene will thrive in Oshawa’s downtown core this summer as Culture Squared (Culture²) and Concerts in the Park partner together to make Culture Night in Oshawa. Culture Night takes place every Thursday from July 7 through to August 25 and is a free celebration of all things art, music, drama, dance, literary and more.

The Corporation of the City of Oshawa is pleased to announce the appointment of Kyle Benham as the Director of Economic Development Services.

“We are very excited to introduce Mr. Kyle Benham as the City’s new Director of Economic Development Services,” said Commissioner of Development Services, Paul Ralph. “He has over 20 years of municipal economic development experience and brings a wealth of knowledge in the areas of business development and incubation, marketing, sector development and investment attraction.”

Mr. Benham has led a number of economic development organizations during his career. This includes serving as the City of Toronto’s Director of Business Development and Retention and as the Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation. He is coming to Oshawa from the Town of Milton where he was most recently the Program Coordinator for the Milton Education Village (MEV) Innovation Centre.

“Oshawa has been experiencing a boom in residential growth and is perfectly positioned to see a similar level of business growth,” said Councillor John Aker, Chair of the Development Services Committee. “I am pleased that Kyle has joined our Oshawa team. We will benefit from his knowledge and expertise in economic development in attracting more businesses to Oshawa.”

Mr. Benham holds a Masters of Science in Planning degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Economic Development Council of Ontario, Economic Development Association of Canada, International Economic Development Council and Ontario Professional Planners Institute.