PARKS in CRISIS Part 5 - The System Worked (Slowly) for a West End Park

8/19/2019 PARKS in CRISIS Part 5 - The System Worked (Slowly) for a West End Park

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PARKS IN CRISIS part 5: The systemworked (slowly) for a west end parkAPRIL 17, 2015 | BY KIMBERLEY NOBLE

On a warm spring afternoon, the park on the corner of Sorauren and

Wabashavenues in the west Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale looks

like a perfect dream of urban open space: a city block of green

bordered by tree-lined streets, families with strollers, kids playing

lacrosse, and neighbours mingling at the farmers market whose winter

home is in an early !"th-century brick o#ce building thats now a

renovated $eldhouse% Theres even a guy on stilts making balloon

animals%

&y all appearances, this park ' the go-to spot for thousands of

residents in a fast-growing neighbourhood ' looks like a triumph of

good planning and community engagement% The park even gets a lot

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/http://spacing.ca/toronto/author/kimberleynoble/https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Toronto,+ON/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b344b0a2d5f59:0xea8cd0fbee6e7f04?sa=X&ei=1wcxVcvEPM2pogTj64GIAg&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAAhttps://www.google.ca/maps/place/Toronto,+ON/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b344b0a2d5f59:0xea8cd0fbee6e7f04?sa=X&ei=1wcxVcvEPM2pogTj64GIAg&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAAhttp://spacing.ca/toronto/author/kimberleynoble/https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Toronto,+ON/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b344b0a2d5f59:0xea8cd0fbee6e7f04?sa=X&ei=1wcxVcvEPM2pogTj64GIAg&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAAhttps://www.google.ca/maps/place/Toronto,+ON/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b344b0a2d5f59:0xea8cd0fbee6e7f04?sa=X&ei=1wcxVcvEPM2pogTj64GIAg&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAAhttp://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/


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of the credit for new investment pouring into a formerly industrial

corner of Parkdale%

Sorauren Park ' bounded by Sorauren (venue, Wabash (venue and

the railway tracks that will soon carry passengers to Pearson (irport '

is, in fact, all those things%

)ts most recent e*pansion, the creation of whats called the Sorauren

Park Town S+uare, is one a handful of recent parks proects ' all of

them partnerships between the city, local residents and philanthropic

funders ' that are heralded as the shining e*amples of the citys parks

policy and resource allocation% .ow is it that civili/ation stays

together01 Ward 23 city councillor 4ord Perks asked at the TownS+uare opening last summer% The answer is right here behind you%1

&ut its also an astonishing e*ample of the hurdles and hoops the city

throws up as obstacles for even the most deserving and forward-

looking parks proects and their hard-working supporters%

The neighbourhood has these facilities because open space activists

have spent two decades umping ' as well as bowing, scraping,

baking, schmoo/ing and strategi/ing ' to assemble the cra/y-+uilt of

funding re+uired to create high-functioning open space%

They even managed to pry loose a small amount of Section 3! money,

which makes them the only small park partnership proect in recent

years to tap into vast parkland reserve fund that the city has been

sitting on, like some municipal Smaug hoarding dwarf gold%

5ven so, the city is still asking local activists to sweat for every park

amenity, right down to the benches and the bicycle rings they are

currently in the process of adding to the new s+uare%

When Spacing set out to $nd Toronto park development success stories

that were e*ceptions to the citys reluctance to allocate funds to parks

proects, we were repeatedly pointed toward such partnerships%

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smaughttp://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smaug


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6et many of these proects are modest playground e*pansions in

suburban areas far from the downtown wards that generated tens of

millions in park levies% They include the 789","""-plus rebuilding of the

amie &ell (dventure Playground in .igh Park; 7!"",""" spent to buy

and plant black cedars to restore the .edge otary Peace Park on

?ake Ontario in @ew Toronto%

&ut the 73"9,""" Sorauren Park Town S+uare is the only partnership

that drew on the Section 3! funding% Of that total, only slightly more

than 2"AB73C,"""Bcame out of the parkland reserves%

The neighbourhood, led $rst by long-time residents and communityparks activists, has waged a $erce and lengthy battle for every s+uare

metre of green space and recreational improvements in a space that

served, until the early 2DD"s, as a TT= bus repair yard, and was

destined to become a new mega-facility for public works%

>esidents fought that plan until the city capitulated% )t spent 72%!

million to clean up the industrial contamination on the property% Parks

contractors covered the !%3 ha brown$eld site with soil, planted trees,and built a baseball diamond and tennis courts%

Then, almost as soon as the park opened in 2DD9, neighbourhood

residents launched a campaign to persuade the city to renovate the

linseed oil comple* into a recreational centre for the under-served

community, which had begun attracting new residents and millions of

dollars in loft conversion investment%

The city bought the old =anada ?inseed Oil


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The sole P8 proposal proved unfeasible% &ut it showed the Sorauren

activists they could not risk waiting for the cityBor risk seeing the

linseed property sold to a developer% They set up an incorporated

entity to carry the plan forward, establishing the Wabash &uilding

Society FW&SG to raise money for park improvements themselves%

W&S decided to start small% The group proposed a 73"",""" renovation

of the derelict linseed oil administrative o#ce B a charming brick

building with deco-style features that once operated as an after-hours

speakeasy B into a $eldhouse% (fter it opened in !""C, the =ity of

Toronto and the Wabash &uilding Society were awarded =anadian

Hrban )nstitutes &rownie (ward for successfully converting a

brown$eld1 site for community use%

The =ity directed Section 8I funds from nearby loft development

proects to improve the $eldhouse, now in constant use by community

groups% This proect provided the Wabash &uilding Society with a track

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record when it came time to tackle the ne*t stage of their park reno

plan%

)t also taught them the value of taking what long-time members call

baby steps%1 )n !""D, the W&S set out to raise the 73"9,""" needed

to transform land that had once held the linseed companys grain

elevator into a !2J!I-metre s+uare that can be used for local events,

such as dances and outdoor $lms, as well as the farmers market%

When this new town s+uare1 was o#cially opened last summer, its

funding story could be seen clearly on the banner thanking donors:

somewhere close !"" names, the culmination of $ve years of bake

sales and funds donated in memory of loved ones who had themselvesloved the park%

The largest sum, 7299,""", came from =ity of Toronto capital funding%

Other contributions included 72!9,""" from a ?ive 4reen grant;

7K2,""" from the Wabash &uilding Societys >eserve Lund; 72K,"""

from community fundraising and the Toronto Parks and Trees

Loundation; and 73C,""" from the Section 3! parkland fund%

.ow did the Wabash &uilding Society manage to score that cash0

Sorauren Park activists praise their elected representatives, especially

Ward 23 councillor Perks, for paving a pragmatic and principled way to

=ity .all% .es been a brick,1 said neighbourhood realtor =hander

=haddah, who has been on the Wabash &uilding Society board since its

inception% Perks, in turn, credits former Ward !I councillor Myle >ae for

teaching him how to successfully negotiate access to municipal

funding on behalf of constituents%

Strateg! !"! panhandlng

Win win win1 has been the W&S mantra for whats now going on a

decade% F)ts been a bit of a process,1 =haddah said, but an

enoyable and happy process%1G 6et the strategic panhandling


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continues% Sorauren Park Town S+uare has been the recipient of

72",""" from the TN &anks Lriends of the 5nvironment foundation,

money used to purchase and plant 3C new trees and shrubs, which will

be cared for by community volunteers over the ne*t two years%

(ccording to >ob >ichardson, manager of Torontos PL> Partnership

Nevelopment o#ce, Sorauren Park activists recently raised an

additional 722,3"" for si* new benches for the town s+uare% )n

addition,


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The moral of the Sorauren Park story is that even the most eEective

communities must recogni/e that creating a new full-service public

park is something to be done for the ne*t generation% W&S activists

praise themselves for their fortitude, but they also point out that the

children that were in utero during the inaugural meetings are now old

enough to attend meetings as young adults% (ll the stars have to

align,1 one of the W&S founders said% Sometimes it takes a long time

for that to happen%1

Perks, for his part, said the city needs to adopt a completely new

mindset about open space% )ts a public infrastructure issue% People

have start thinking of parks the way they think of sidewalks%1

Part 1: All built up but no place to grow

Part 2: Where the money fows

Part 3: The perils o cash-in-lieu

Part 3 siebar: Section !2 e"plaine

Part !: The tale o two par#s

Part $: The system wor#e %slowly& or a west en par#

Part ': Are pri(ately-owne public spaces the answer to par#s e)cit*

2 COMMENTS

Neither the author nor Spacing necessarily agrees with posted comments. Spacing reserves theright to edit or delete comments entirely. See our =omment Policy.

2% John

11 MONTHS AGO

Continuing our cities parks crisis, it was announced today that Moss Park will behaving a complete makeover and the 51 will be building the !irst "#$%& reccentre on the site. %his will likely take a !ew years to complete at some cost tothe city a!ter years o! the "#$%& community pursuing this goal. %he publicgenerally !eels aw!ul about this outcome as it did not occur in a short time !rame,and re'uired hard work. ( man related to the pro)ect e*pressed his dismay at theparks crisis, e*pressing his dismay that he couldn+t have the park in - minutesor less.

!% m.b.

11 MONTHS AGO

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soarauren park is a great success story in a community !ighting !or park space. remember trying to break in to the ttc yard to e*plore when i was a kid. %he thingthat ba!!les my mind is that it has taken so much e!!ort to raise money to improvethis park yet recently the city spent over million/ to buy an old pla*a 't 'ueenst. (nd callender ave to build o! all things a new parking lot. (nd even more

recently paid a !ew million dollars !or a tiny new park at king and du!!erin. grewup in parkdale and have never heard o! anyone asking the city to spend millionsto buy a tiny new park 0hile down the road at sorauren the residents are !ighting!or every dollar they can get. (nd how about those ---/ benches. Please. %heycould have been built by talented locals !or a !raction o! the cost. egardless o!all the bureacratic hurdles the community has rallied to create a great park that isunrecogni2eable !rom the scrap yard i remember as a kid

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PARKS in CRISIS Part 5 - The System Worked (Slowly) for a West End Park

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