Bettianne Hedges, BA, Broker

Woodstock is #30 on Money Sense Magazine's list of Canada's best places to live
Ingersoll, Tillsonburg finished 46th, 75th respectively

Oxford County Scores Well!

From Sentinel-Review By Bruce Urquhart ECONOMICS REPORTER,
Tuesday May 06, 2008

WOODSTOCK - While "We're No. 30" might not have the most inspiring ring, it still means the City of Woodstock finished in the top 20 per cent of MoneySense magazine's list of top Canadian cities.
In the national magazine's May 2008 issue, Woodstock is ranked 30th out of 154 Canadian communities with populations greater than 10,000, finishing higher on this list of "Canada's Best Places to Live" than cities like Peterborough, Calgary, Toronto, Kitchener and Hamilton. As for cities with the same approximate population as Woodstock, only Stratford ranked higher at No. 27.
"It reinforces what we already know," Woodstock development commissioner Len Magyar said. "Woodstock is a great place to live."While Woodstock didn't score particularly high in any of the categories that helped determine this third annual list, the city seemed to hover around the middle to top one-third of the rankings, which was just enough for its relatively high finish.
Last year, Woodstock was not included in the rankings.

Oxford County Social Services-Homeownership Program

The Oxford County Social Services announced this week that they have secured another $335.000.00 to help people purchased their first home.
This program allows people to purchase a home up to a value of $160,000.00 and receive a grant up to $8,000.00 to pay the down payment.
The purchaser must first be approved for the mortgage. That is the main requirement and then they can apply for the grant for the down payment after they are approved.

Forms and information is available at www.county.oxford.on.ca click on "What's New" tab to the right and scroll down to "Social Services and Housing-Social Housing" and click on Homeownership program.

You can contact Tracie Duffy-Megyesi 519 539 9800
e-mail tduffy@county.oxford.on.ca
or Paul Beaton 519 539 9800 ext. 3301
Copies of forms outlining requirements are also under Board Resources under Forms.

My Top Five Favourite Restaurants in Oxford County

5. A&W
Retro burger for those Friday nights when you just need one! Recently won the Woodstock District Chamber of Commerce Award for Best Franchisee.

4. Coffee Culture. Their dark roast coffee is currently the best in the County and their Spicy Thai soup is surprisingly good.

3. Bronson's Steak House & Pour Bar.
Brand new and boasting the juiciest steak possible. Tony's wife makes a nice, dry gin martini. Not quite Tony Harding good but....

2. Mango Salad. David bows every time he approaches our table. He is a lovely man. I'm in love with the Basil Shrimp. I dream about it. But the Cashew Chicken is wonderful too. Worth the trip to Ingersoll.

Drum Roll please....

1. 639
Begin with one of Andrew's Manhattans. E-mail me directly for his secret ingredient and e-mail Andrew for the lovely story that goes with it. Chef Eric usually has Buffalo on the menu but I most often go for the lamb and finish with the Crème Brule. Pauline, Eric and Andrew just won "Outstanding Food Service' by the Woodstock District Chamber of Commerce. And they've recently introduced their new spring menu.

There were other contenders- parmesan wings from Crabby Joe's, chicken caesar wrap from Pita Hut, spicy salami sandwich from the polish deli....

I'm open to your comments and suggestions.... I may even post them.

The Woodstock Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Breakfast With The Mayor yesterday. I felt that the numbers of people (standing room only)attending was testament to the positive feelings that our business community has for the future of Woodstock. Mayor Harding is never a boring speaker! Hugo's notes were much better than mine so here follows is the account of the Mayor's address as printed today in the Woodstock Sentinel Review. Bettianne



By Hugo Rodrigues POLITICS REPORTER
Wednesday February 13, 2008

WOODSTOCK - Mayor Michael Harding touched on the city's future by returning to his past Tuesday before a Woodstock and District Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
Delivering his fifth ‘state of the city' address to a packed room at the Quality Hotel and Suites, Harding spoke about a need to create a livable city, as the impact of industrial development becomes reality in the coming years. In doing so, he returned to the origins of this concept, flashing slides and speaking of Bill Levitt and the first suburb of Levittown, N.Y., and its subsequent impact on post-war housing across the continent.
"The post-war housing crunch... was directly responsible for the creation of (the) Central - now (the) Canadian - Mortgage and Housing Corp.," Harding said. "Those homes can still seen here in Woodstock... Here is a photo of one family, my own, that lived in that style of house, with these kids and three more to come.
"Building a livable city requires some place for people to live and these challenges have returned. Thirty-five thousand call Woodstock home, but the city is challenged today to provide good, affordable housing for all."
Harding used the spot of history as the launching point for the body of his address, which featured audio clips of local business leaders speaking about their decision to locate here, and touched on several facets of work underway to maintain and improve our quality of life.

Part of that included releasing information on www.workinwoodstock.ca, a website to be launched March 1 that will allow employers and job seekers to post and view local opportunities. He also touched on the city's ongoing relationship with Oxford County, highlighting the completion of the Woodstock Woodingford Lodge and the pending completion of the administration building that will keep 150 county employees downtown.
Harding also mentioned the new Woodstock General Hospital and Community Health Centre as elements of improving livability.
"The city's concern for natural heritage goes back more than a 100 years, with the creation of Southside Park, but there are many examples," Harding said, referring to Brick Pond, a Finch Avenue woodlot acquired by council, the Vansittart Woods and Woodall Woods.
"I had the privilege of working together with a broad range of stakeholders as chair of Oxford Natural Heritage Study, which mostly examined private land and the need to protect it using specific land and water science-based evaluations," Harding said. "Not everyone agreed with its methodologies or outcomes... and Standard Tube and Burgess parks was the most public of these, where we asked for input and we received it in spades."
Flashing slides of the fallow farmland, Harding asked the crowd to closely examine council's recommendation to allow the development of a golf course to proceed.
"This is a flavour of the current reality in the area today- it's far from being a nature reserve now," Harding said. "If it receives permission from the UTRCA, the designers will add 2.5 kilometres of publicly accessible new trails. That's $100,000 of new trails at no cost to the people."
Harding returned to his origins to end the address, flashing a photo of his parents to reinforce the points made at the beginning and throughout.
"Theirs was optimism that propelled the future. They were a generation responsible for the foundations on which we build," Harding said. "They left the world to their children as we leave it to our children and grandchildren.
"Building a livable city take daily, weekly and monthly work. It means gradually changing opinions, with new attitudes, new capacity and new structures. Together, we're working to build a livable city in which we can all be proud."

Woodstock, Ontario is a leader in municipal green programing. Who wouldn't want to live here?

Copied here from a press release by Woodstock Mayor Michael Harding -

Woodstock's great fridge roundup is proving to be a big success, and is helping the province meet its energy conservation goals at the same time.

Woodstock Hydro reports that 155 refrigerators, 53 freezers and 3 air conditioners were picked up in the first year of the plan to save energy. The free province-wide program to remove old, inefficient appliances surpassed the 50,000 unit milestone in its seven months.

Energy Minister Gerry Phillips says the goal is to double that number and get rid of another 100,000 old refrigerators this year.

He says it costs about $150 a year to keep the old fridges plugged in, and says it's time to put the beer in the upstairs fridge and get rid of the old one.

The Ontario Power Authority estimates the appliance retirement program has saved an estimated 11 megawatts so far.

Phillips says if they meet this year's goal of another 100,000 old fridges, the province will save enough energy to power about 15,000 homes, or a community the size of Woodstock.

The power authority says for every 10 to 12 fridges removed, the equivalent of one typical Ontario home is effectively removed from the power grid forever.

Want to learn more about this program? Click on this link:

http://www.everykilowattcounts.ca/HTML/InMarket/FridgeRoundUp/FRUprogramHome.shtml