Students can be big help to Oshawa

Come on, Oshawa, get with the program. Embracing and encouraging the local college scene can be good for you. While General Motors has been, and continues to be, an invaluable asset to this community, a little diversity can only benefit us.

Young adults, away from home for the first time in their lives, have different needs than the average working class family. Always running on a tight budget and tighter schedule, they demand affordable and efficient transit. After class, they want clean, safe drinking holes, urban-style cafes to hang out in, a local music scene and bookstores. OK, Downtown Oshawa: this is your chance to shine!  Many of these students have sufficient allowances from the family purse to make them attractive to local merchants, especially those selling fashion and electronics. And don’t forget that the student population is available to take those lower-wage, part-time jobs -- especially in the restaurant and retail sectors -- that few else want (except out-of-work actors, naturally).

In case you haven’t heard, the thorny issue relates to the housing of these young people.

No, it’s not a perfect situation; but, let’s face it, you can’t always please everyone. Quiet streets in the vicinity of the campus suddenly find themselves “active,” “vibrant,” “noisy,” “overrun.” Pick your own adjective.

Neighbours have to deal with noise, speeding drivers, a preponderance of backpacked strangers walking the formerly tranquil streets, humming Finger Eleven. But there are few streets in Oshawa that don’t have these issues to some degree. I have to cope with all three on my street and I’m a brisk 20-minute walk from Kingsway College. Surely the police department can deal with a noise infraction or suspicious characters, as they would in any neighbourhood.

Yes, there are legitimate concerns about the safety of these students, stacked like firewood within shoddy renovations that are not up to code, fire traps with roach-infested cupboards and lacking the essentials of life, such as running water, working smoke alarms and easy access to emergency exits.

These are valid concerns that should be addressed with offending landlords by the appropriate authority. But unsafe living conditions are not the students’ fault and they’re not the colleges’ fault, and, to be fair, not every landlord falls into the “dubious” category. Most are good citizens, supplying students with comfortable, safe accommodations at a fair price, at the same time helping pay the mortgage, perhaps investing that rent money in an RESP for their own children, who will one day be making a foray into the world of post-secondary education.

There are already mechanisms in place to govern the rental housing industry, with rules and guidelines meant to protect both tenants and landlords. So why is City Hall punishing the “many” for the sins of the “few”? This seems more like a convenient opportunity for a vocal minority to vent some misdirected anger at the college community, rather than a chance to sensibly address a potential problem with a handful of shifty landlords.

And don’t forget: there are plenty of Ontario towns that would donate a left arm for the chance to host a college or university and enjoy the benefits that come with being a college town. Those of us who live in the real world understand that, with the good, there will always be some bad. But let’s not allow the complainers to spoil what should be a symbiotic and fruitful opportunity for a town that is looking for reasons to reinvent and revitalize itself. It doesn’t take a college degree to see that they are a positive aspect to our community.

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