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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, June 10, 2016 | 6 A great place to live Ever wonder why it is that Oakville has ranked so high when compared to other communities of similar size across the country? Just this week, Oakville was named the third best mid-sized city in Canada by MoneySense magazine in its Best Places to Live rankings (see p.9). There are obvious reasons Oakville is such a great place to call home. It has a fantastic setting on the shores of Lake Ontario and near the rising, majestic Niagara Escarpment. It has a relatively low crime rate, when compared to communities of similar size. It also has some of the best community festivals in including the relatively new Co-operators' Oakville Family Ribfest, the not-so-new, but popular Downtown Oakville Jazzfest, the Oakville Children's Festival, the Downtown Oakville Midnight Madness, not to mention Canadian favourites like the Bronte Canada Day Party and the Courage Brother's Polar Bear Dip at the opposite pole of the seasons. Other fare includes the new but popular Oakville Film Festival and that is just naming a few of the local attractions the town has to offer -- in addition to its many natural amenities, two historic harbours, numerous heritage districts, Bronte Creek Provincial Park and the town's Heritage Trails and lots, lots more. Yet certainly there must be something more to this community to be so well-respected and so sought-after by those choosing to make their homes. Anyone attending Wednesday's (June 8) Community Spirit Awards (see p.5) at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre (QEPCCC) got a pretty good hint as to what that rare quality might be. It's the people. And the handful of people who won awards are but a few of the many, many more who help make Oakville Oakville. While no one has discovered a metric for measuring the quality of human beings we might encounter when moving from one community to the next, most assuredly, when one is invented Oakville residents will probably send it off the charts. Oakville residents care -- about their environment, health, preserving the town's history, about being entertained and perhaps, most importantly, about each other. If a tragedy leaves a family in need, Oakville residents are there to offer whatever is needed until those neighbours get back on their feet again. When Syrian refugees needed a safe place to live, Oakville people opened their hearts to make families from half a world away feel welcome. When wild res drove 80,000 Fort McMurray residents out of their homes, Oakville people stepped up to do what they could to lend a helping hand. The Town of Oakville's Community Spirit Awards remind us that this is a town of people with a seemingly endless passion to contribute to making our community better than it has ever been before. Residents' collective efforts to improve our town's health, heritage, social fabric, artistic air and every other aspect of what makes a community truly great are the building blocks of what keeps Oakville a sought-after place to live. If you are one of those caring and giving people, give yourself a pat on the back. And keep up the phenomenal work, you make us better. Thank you. Editorial G A R A G E S A L E S E A S O N "Connected to your Community" 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 54 | Number 47 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Vice ­President and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER KELLY MONTAGUE DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Business Manager LORI ANN GZOVDANOVIC Director of Production MARK DILLS MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Director of Distribution CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager The 11th annual Giant Community Garage Sale, organized by Oakvillegreen Conservation Association and boasting more than 60 vendors, took over the parking lot of Oakville Town Hall recently. The sun shone and the wind was warm as shoppers took the heat in stride to nd a deal. Meanwhile inside Town Hall was the Oakville Conserve Energy Fair, with approximately a dozen booths. Pictured, Michael Ladkin, 4, did his part to help his father Richard Ladkin carry the toy box, blocks, chairs and tables they purchased to their vehicle. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member Letter to the Editor Town taxes higher than in ation: reader Re: Mayor says Oakville must do more to address poverty, Oakville Beaver, Friday, June 3, 2016 In last week's Beaver, in a report on Mayor Rob Burton's speech to the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, you reported the very positive state of Oakville's nances, which I applaud. In his speech, Mayor Burton claims that the Town has held the rate of property tax increase to, or below, in ation for several years. That claim is ction. Combined Town and Region overall property tax rates may have been held to in ation but that is because the Region's increases have been very low. The Town's increases have exceeded the general rate of in ation. So not only is the claim wrong, it is hard to understand why the Town cannot achieve it. The mayor also reports that the tax-supported debt has been lowered signi cantly--so servicing costs should also be lower. He reports a series of successes in attracting business to the Town--these should increase the tax base unless they were wooed by promises of tax holidays. All the residential development taking place also increases the tax base and Oakville has one of the highest development charges in the Province--money should be rolling in. Why does the Town need to continually raise the rate? Robert Adams, Oakville Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Proud Official Media Sponsor For: The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 or via email to ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. 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