OUR FUTURE FOCUS
"Councillor TITO-DANTE MARIMPIETRI is a Strong Experienced voice who dedicated to collaboratively delivering Proven Results and continuing to respectfully serve generations families and residents of all ages Ward 2 - His Positive Energy, Work Ethic, Dynamic Professional Skills, Dedication and Knowledge of our community is vital and transformative asset needed on Council as we continue to building Oshawa's bright future together!"
OSHAWA'S FUTURE
...is very bright!
PROMOTING FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
Our Tax Dollars and Municipal Financing
Striving for more sustainability through affordability in property tax impact on residential home owners and business operators by broadening the tax base by attracting job creating investment project, they investing to build and modernize vital community infrastructure, while paying down debt and contributing to our city’s reserve fund strategy and maintaining accountability a d best fiscal practices to secure financial stewardship and tax payer dollars in all that we do at City Hall.
I remain focused and committed to ensuring that the City of Oshawa has the strongest finances in Durham Region. I understand that our residents demand and deserve the best services and the most cost-efficient delivery and we have taken proactive steps to achieve these goal. As a corporation, we submitted ourself to Provincial government to have Provincial auditors review Oshawa’s finances with a the auditors expectation of finding a 4% savings. When their final report was tabled, it stated that ‘Oshawa had excellent best practices regarding the city’s controls, policies and procedures, including a strong public reporting process’, thereby positively affirming the steps we had already taken as a city.
Notably, the City of Oshawa has finally been acclaimed as holding the line on one of the lowest annual tax increases in Durham Region with an average well below inflation of just 1.79% over four years. Comparatively, Whitby average increase was 1.83%, with Claringtons’ at 1.95%, and Ajax with a 2.60% increase each over the past four years. Holding the line on taxes is not all we did to make Oshawa more affordable and competitive - We have also managed to rebalance our books by massively reducing the city’s debt to historic lows by over $58 million, while still adding to the city’s vital reserves to the tune of $103 million and investment in $63 million in capital community building infrastructure. The successful management of our finances is a direct and positive benefit to tax payers, the image of our city, and our ability to advance Oshawa’s future prudently.
With nearly $57 million in debate paid $103 million in reserve contributions, and $264 million invested in vital community building infrastructure resulting in an impressive total of $425 million in the plus - We have worked hard to successfully reposition Oshawa as a leading edge community with a laser focus on attracting sustainable job creating investment which helps to strategically broaden our tax base and significantly reduce the financial burden on the residential property tax base. With these achieved goals and continued future focus in mind, I remain deducted ensuring strong financial stewardship for Oshawa’a future!
BUILDING AND GROWING OUR LOCAL ECONOMY
Strong Vibrant
and Diverse
Continuing to grow our local economy by attract investment via various knowledge based sectors like IT, AI, SMR and post secondary driven innovation will substantively help to supplient traditional industries such as the transportation automobile development and design and advance technologies in new fuel alternatives and propel Oshawa’s future with the Build out of Northwoods Business Park (Thornton Road North and Taunton Road) right here in Ward 2 to create thousands of new jobs and attract investments from around the world.
Creating a socio-economic atmosphere where blue-chip companies are drawn to invest in our community was a key focus. As Chair of Development Services, I worked diligently with the support of the Mayor and my colleagues to streamline our approval processes and structure the way we do business to focus on customer service. Timeliness of approvals to investors business and building plans has been vital to the transformative success we are enjoying. Oshawa now ranks the fastest times for approval in all GTHA.
The high levels of education, dynamic skills, and the diversity of Ward 2 offers an advance labour force, proximity to major transportation infrastructure, value and affordability a fertile incubator for progress, and prosperity services to support new blue chip investment employees and families, along with the stability and fiscal soundness of local government are critical considerations to potential investors and their confidence in developing projects for global job creating giants.
Oshawa scores high on all these priorities. We have seen record investment in the community over the past four years, especially in the industrial, commercial, institutional and government sectors. Oshawa has seen total investment in the city of over $ 2 billion, resulting in an impressive 5% unemployment rate – lower than Ontario’s unemployment rate of 5.6%.
The Conference Board of Canada estimates that Oshawa’s GDP will grow by 4.7% in 2022 and increase to 5% in 2023. The city has seen thousands of new, well-paying jobs created in the past four years ranging from entry-level employment to career and professional work. The diversity in the local job market is the envy of many communities across Canada, and with Oshawa having the fastest-growing population at 2.3%, the future is promising.
INVESTING
IN VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Improving Our Services
During this term of office alone, we have strategically invested roughly $150 million in community and Neighbourhood infrastructure such as roads, bridges, sidewalks, parks, trails.
As part of this transformational reinvestment in our city, we have begun to undertake the age-friendly redevelopment of our established parks to include exciting features such as pickle ball courts, and splash pads. Our waterfront is enjoying a rebirth with community building investments such as the development of Ed Broadbent Park and the amazing new splash-pad destination playground at Lakeview Park.
In 2022, Ward 2 became the offices home to the first phase of the newly developed Rose Valley Community Park on Thornton Road just south of the Airport Golf Club - it will include recreational amenities such as the new BMX track, and many exciting passive recreation features for generations of families to enjoy. Additionally, at Stone Street Park, we created the first cricket field in our city’s history.
As a city, and region we continue to invest time and resources to support and realize the the construction of new 401 interchanges at Simcoe and the Harmony and 401, facilitating the much anticipated announcement of the GO Train East expansion through Oshawa - with new and exciting job-incubating GO station locations being planned and built on Laval Drive as well as the former Knob Hill Farms property just east of Simcoe on First Avenue.
Oshawa is certainly on a very positive trajectory thanks to these vital strategic community building infrastructure projects throughout our city.
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ADAVANCING COMMUNITY SAFETY
Fostering Livable Sustainable Communities
Preserving our greenspaces while facilitating new trail, revitalizing and building our parks system has been a key focus. The affects of the Climate Change and the impacts felts during the Global Pandemic has further brought to light that we must work to secure and provide more open greenspace and age friendly public parks. Promoting green/tech industries, striving for innovation, and embracing the reality that livability and quality of life go hand in hand with the enhancement of greenspace and more natural design of public places is vital to all.
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Since returning to serve you, during this term of office alone, we have revitalized, planned, and facilitated more new parks than ever before with covering a total of 1265 hectares. These actions included the heritage designation and protection of sensitive lands, such as the Second Marsh, Lakeview Park, the South Field, Camp Samac, and Gold Point Wildlife Reserve. In addition, the realization of Rose Valley Park, Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park, Sandy Hailey Park, Charles Taylor Park, New Thornton Road Trail System along with the revitalization of Deer Valley Park BMX Track, and many other local neighbourhood Parks, Trails and Greenspaces have been upgraded with things like splashpads, accessible equipment, hard surfaces, and various features to meet the community’s needs and enhance the recreation experience for families of all ages.
Work continues on the numerous other approved and newly planned public Greenspaces and destination parks such as $30million Northwood Windfeilds Community Centre and Park, $10 million redevelopment of Rotary Park. To date, we have expanded Oshawa’s lush and modernized parks inventory to a total of 150 parks with over 313 hectares, with so many more exciting age friendly community space to come.
Taking climate change action is a responsibility for must all meet. As a City we are converting our fleets to be more environmentally friendly, while investing in helping to facilitate and build an extensive EV charging network making us the first municipality in Durham with public on-street EV charging stations. This commitment to expanding Oshawa’s EV network across the city-wide will help to facilitate the growing EV revolution and our continued focus on reducing our carbon footprint is a target we are actively seeking to extract from public facilities and new building developments in our community.
Enhancing residents quality of life, by strategically investing in our Greenspaces, Parks, Trails, Active and Transportation Infrastructure is a shift that continues to require our attentions and support.
ENHANCING
OUR QUALITY
OF LIFE
Caring for the Environment
Sustainability has been a key priority in our efforts to build a brighter future for Oshawa. Community planning and the positives of good planning principles and practices are critical to the way our community impacts our daily lives. Livability, Balance, Safety, Environmental,
Sustainability, and Socioeconomic Affordability must be at the core of the way we build Oshawa's future.
To advance the principles and objectives of well-planned neighbourhoods, as as the City’s Chair of Development Services, I have lead a transformational change within the development services department centered on a vital outlook of sustainability. Advancing this priority meant securing more greenspaces, creating more naturalized areas such as pollinators and butterfly gardens, build more trails and active transportation systems, pressing developers for land to build larger neighbourhood parks, and vocally championing a balanced approach to development application which prioritize more community public spaces.
An example of this focused priority can also be noted in my collaboration with colleagues to move key changes in the direction we physically plan our future neighbourhoods - Livability, Balance, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability also means Socioeconomic and Financial Affordability.
As the ViceChair of Regional Works, I was stead fast in my support to set and meet Regional Targets for Affordable and LongTerm Care Housing Units by working to advance an agressive target to build a minimum of 1000 units by 2025 of which we have already realized over 350 units since 2020. More policies and focused priority targets such as this are needed and a continued effort to work with all levels of government to eradicate poverty and offer dignified affordable housing for families of all generations in our community is vital to the advancement of our families.
These efforts have also been centered on ensuring shovel ready parcels of land are made available and obstacles are cleared to helped advance quality affordable housing projects - and as part of this, I have also worked directly with developers and builders alike to negotiate that these housing units be included in their new projects as means of integration and available supply for the needs of our most vulnerable residents in need.
WARD 2
NEIGHBOURHOOD
MAP
Modernized Functional Connected Community
More to come...