By Lindsey Cole
The Oshawa Express

The significance of crickets chirping in sync? The Discovery Channel? Actor Kevin Bacon?
It’s not everyday you hear analogies about crickets chirping and the website called ‘The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’ in a mayor’s State of the City Address, but Mayor John Gray was drawing correlations in connection with the city and the success Oshawa saw in 2009.
And it revolves around the importance of networking and making things happen, he told fellow politicians, city staff and members of the Oshawa business community during the Annual Mayor’s Breakfast, hosted by the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce.
He told the audience that scientists realized individual crickets didn’t need to hear other crickets to be in sync with their chirps, all they needed was connectivity – all they needed was a hub.

 “Everything, be it a person, a city, a country, or a planet is a hub. Every hub is connected to other hubs,” he says.
And in 2009 Oshawa was that hub, he says, adding this is the reason why so many great things happened in the city despite harsh economic times.
“By strengthening our city, we are establishing more links and connectivity to Oshawa so that your individual business networks benefit and grow,” he adds.
Last year, 1,040 building permits were issued in Oshawa for a total value of more than $320 million, he says. This marks the seventh highest total ever.
“I am happy to report this trend is continuing this year as Oshawa broke two records for building permit activity for the month of January,” he adds.
He says 2009 was a year full of great promise for the city with a few announcements that ultimately changed the face of Oshawa’s downtown core forever.
These announcements greatly revolved around the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

Announcements from the university regarding the construction of the Automotive Centre of Excellence, the revitalization of the Regent Theatre for downtown classes, buying the Alger Press building for yet some more downtown classes were just a few things that made 2009 a great year for the downtown and the city as a whole, he says.
Mayer Gray says because of the investment in the General Motors Centre years earlier, many businesses were drawn to the downtown, including UOIT and the newly constructed Durham Consolidated Courthouse. This goes back to the analogy of being a hub, he says.
2010 looks even more promising, he speculates.
“Oshawa has completed our process, increasing (the tax levy) by only 0.9 per cent. This budget represents an increase of less than half the rate of inflation in the GTA and without any cuts to services,” he explains.

“This budget was recommended directly by staff and it is an incredibly responsible and affordable budget. I am aware that tax rates are a concern for many people. I want to assure you that we will remain vigilant with our continuous improvement program.”
While General Motors was also hit hard in 2009, affecting a lot of Oshawa residents, Mayor Gray says things are even looking up for the city’s manufacturing sector. 
“I attested to the fact that not Oshawa, but Ontario and Canada for that matter, needed to stand behind our manufacturers. Many questioned GM’s viability. Many doubted their future. My faith, and that of our city’s residents and businesses, in GM, never wavered,” he says.

The recent success of the Chevrolet Camaro is testament to that, he says, adding recent news of a second shift, the production of the Buick Regal and the new Cadillac, are huge for the city.
But perhaps the most important element of his speech revolved around a very hush-hush topic, Oshawa’s waterfront.
While he couldn’t go into a great amount of detail because talks still continue with the federal government over land and the future of Oshawa’s harbour, he maintained Oshawa would remain a people-friendly harbour.
“I stand before you today to proclaim that for the first time in 40 years, there is more agreement than division. For the first time in 40 years, the City of Oshawa and the federal government have agreed on a strategy that will ultimately put this feud to rest,” he says.  “There are some details that still need to be worked out and therefore I cannot present to you what we agree on. I can state that our position of creating an attractive waterfront that recognizes mixed uses has not been compromised. For the first time in 40 years, an era of construction at our waterfront is not only feasible, it is imminent.”
He says people will be living on the waterfront, shopping, eating and accessing the shores of Lake Ontario for recreational use.
“For the first time in 40 years, the people of Oshawa can get excited of what will be offered at our waterfront. There is a great deal of hope and opportunity in Oshawa.”
For chamber President John Walker, the mayor’s speech was promising for Oshawa’s businesses.
“The Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce is very proactive. It’s a positive perspective for the future. There is going to be a lot of growth,” he says.
Mayor Gray says it just comes down to establishing key priorities, like the waterfront, and sticking with it.
“Things look pretty good in 2010,” he says.
“I think we have a lot to look forward to.”