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16 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 8, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com Vital Signs report contains a few surprises O akville is a great place to live. Still, a few surprising statistics can be found in town. Oakville is a great place for a family, green, heritage, libraries, community centres, schools, arts and culture and local business. It's growing, diverse On the other hand, Oakville also has 11 per cent of its children living in poverty and one in eight seniors living below the poverty line, a high cost of housing, a shortage of doctors and psychiatrists, a high rate of breast cancer, a surprising rate of teens with weapons, a shortage of emergency shelters and a long distance commute to work for many residents. Those are among the findings of the first Oakville Vital Signs 2008 report released yesterday by the Community Foundation of Oakville (CFO). Oakville is one of 15 communities in Canada to publish such a report -- compiling existing statistics across 11 lifestyle categories, asking 600 volunteers to grade the town on each category and then going public with the findings. "It's a very fair report. It's not surprising because we know we've got a wonderful community. We also know there are a few things we've got to pay attention to. There were a few wake up calls," said CFO CEO Rusty Baillie. Among the stats that raised Baillie's eyebrows were that in 2006, 8.5 per cent of Grade 10 Oakville students reported carrying a weapon for defense or use in a fight in the past year. Halton's statistic was 9.6 per cent. The report and its background information can be found at www.oakvillesvitalsigns.ca. A light version is in today's Oakville Beaver and hard copies are available at all local libraries. A full house greeted the release of the report yesterday at Oakville's Central Library, including Mayor Rob Burton, Halton Region Chair Gary Carr, Oakville MP Bonnie Brown and numerous local politicians, social service agencies and others. It was the library that earned the report's only A grade. Last year, there was one library card for every 1.3 people in town and in 2006, the Oakville Library ranked first in Canada for online and in-person visits. While in-person visits has declined by 8.3 per cent in recent years, online visits increased 66.9 per cent. Arts and Culture scored well (B+) based on the number of residents employed in cultural industries and spending money on performing arts and museums. "There were an estimated 190 premature deaths in Halton in 2005 attributable to poor air quality and smog. The estimated number of premature deaths from air quality in 2008 has risen to 336." cent higher than the provincial average. On the education scene, 14.1 per cent of five year olds in 2006 were developmentally vulnerable in communication and general knowledge while 70 per cent of 10th graders lived within walking distance of the library and nearly 62 per cent of them had reported visiting the library in the last year. In 2008, 71.2 per cent of homes had internet services compared to 64 per cent nationally, and yet the Oakville Literacy Council estimated between 1,500 and 3,000 people aged 35 to 65 are functioning at a low literacy level. While Halton has been ranked the safest place to live in Canada, kids were reporting carrying weapons, fire department response times rose from 2001 to 2006 and statistics from 2004 to 2006 showed violent and property crimes increased quicker in Oakville than provincially. Meanwhile, prostitution, weapons and other criminal code offences decreased dramatically over the same period. On the environmental landscape, which ranked C-, Oakville has nearly 2 million trees with 43 per cent of them owned by the Town. Together they provide a 29.1 per cent canopy cover. Oakville has an ecological footprint about 89 times its area. In 2005, 190 premature deaths were attributed to air pollution while that grew to 336 in 2008. Baillie said the study found Oakville residents to be passionate about their community and said the CFO will now use the study to begin dialoguing on various areas. Mayor Rob Burton said the Town and Region will host round tables on issues of concern. While CFO chair Terry Jackson admitted Oakville is a wonderful place to be, CFO director of community initiatives Anne Miskey said it is hoped the Vital Signs report will be a "call to action for the community." "Ask what's possible, not what's wrong," said Miskey. With the report to be done for another two years, and then once every two years after that, Baillie said Oakville will be able to compare itself with Oakville in the future -- and see how it is doing. MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER COMMUNITY VITALITY: Community Foundation of Oakville (CFO) CEO Rusty Baillie, depicted on a DVD by Oakville filmmaker Bob Fleck at the launch of the CFO's first Vital Signs Oakville 2008 report. It confirmed Oakville is a great community -- but it also held a few surprises that should serve as a wake up call for community action. "Eating disorder treatment programs, including the Central Wet Eating Disorder Program located in Halton, are reporting children as young as seven years old are now presenting with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa." Employment rated B- overall. Residential growth outpaced business growth in town, which places residential taxes at peril of increasing to provide services. At the same time, the median family income was $90,920 in 2006 -- 65.3 per cent higher than the provincial average. Yet while the number of people employed locally is increasing, in 2006, 63.2 per cent of people who worked outside the home also worked out of town. Not surprisingly, Oakville got a Don getting to work, with fewer than five per cent of people biking or walking and only 14 per cent riding public transit. A 2001 survey found more than one in every three seniors found it difficult getting around and 30 per cent of seniors in 2005 did not drive. Health and Wellness got a C-. The study reported 10 per cent of Grade 10 students and 4.4 per cent of Grade 7 students were at risk for depression in 2006. Fewer Oakville women were having mammograms to screen for breast cancer than in Halton. Last year, 54.3 per cent of the population aged 12 and over reported being physically active, yet between 2003 and 2007 obesity in those 18 and over increased from 13.1 to 16.3 per cent in Halton. Eating disorder programs are reporting children as young as seven are presenting with disorders like anorexia nervosa. The gap between rich and poor scored a C+ with 6.3 per cent of 12 year olds in Oakville reporting food insecurity in 2006 and when it comes to emergency shelters, 65 per cent of those housed are under age 12. And while Oakville was more than 30 per cent lower than the provincial average when it came to those living in poverty in 2005, 11.1 per cent of children 18 and under were living in poverty in Oakville in 2005 -- still 40 per cent lower than provincially or nationally. While rent for apartments went down in Toronto over the last year, it went up in Oakville. Apartment rent clocked in at $1,103 monthly, while house rental averaged $1,045 and mortgage payments were $1,466, monthly. From 2005 to 2006, of 155 home- "In 2001, one out of every eight senior citizens lived under the poverty line, and among recent immigrants, one out of every three people lived under the poverty line." less youths seeking service in Halton, 47 per cent were from Oakville and of the 198 asking about services in Halton, 26 per cent were from Oakville. Fewer Oakville Grade 10 students reported having jobs than across Halton and low birth weight babies were lower in Oakville than in Canada. In 2006, however, there were 4,605 child care spaces in licenced centres while the wait list was at 1,413. In 2006, 25.3 per cent of Oakville residents spoke a mother tongue other than English or French. In 2004, volunteering among those 15 and older was lower than the Ontario average, but had more than doubled since 2000. And while charitable donations in Oakville were 40 per cent higher than the national average and 12.9 per cent higher than provincially, the median family income was 65.3 per