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From Jutta Mason To Janie Romoff
August 29, 2011
Dear Ms.Romoff,
Your open letter of August 26 2011 was posted both on the dufferinpark.ca website and throughout the park. Despite this, the “sleep-in” organized by playground users went ahead, with many tents. The event was peaceful and well-organized and there was no associated maintenance expense for PFR staff. But I’m told there were a lot of interesting conversations.
I would like to respond briefly to the main point in your open letter, reiterated over and over by PFR management: that the activities which make Dufferin Grove Park work well have not been reduced.
Many would disagree. Just two examples:
1. The wading pool changes are evident to all. Last Friday, during a visit from a Toronto NGO group, our visitors and I went down to the pool cafe to have lunch. We watched as the centrally-supplied wading pool attendants turned their backs on the park coordinator while she was talking to them. The coordinator was suggesting some additional activities for the attendants to do with kids, beside the pool (it was a cool day and there were few kids in the water). The attendants told the coordinator dismissively as they walked away, “no, we are going to do our work now.” During lunch, we saw their work, as they conceived it. As is the case in most city wading pools, the attendants just sat and talked to each other. Collaboration with program staff is broken.
2. The recreation supervisor has chosen a new job category for the part time recreation staff, which puts most Dufferin Grove staff at minimum wage, despite the high level of work required of them. New part-time staff candidates were recently interviewed using a generic set of questions unrelated to Dufferin Grove. Although park friends and our CELOS group have played a huge role in structuring the park’s activities, my request to help with the list of interview questions was denied. The reason, according to the supervisor, was: “When it comes to staffing matters, it is inappropriate to involve external parties.” This is no longer the “productive cooperation between community members and the City” that you invoke in your letter. Cooperation is reduced to the vanishing point. Mistrust rules.
Your letter ends inviting feedback. There have been plenty of letters, some of them posted at the park and on our website. I hope that you can set up a time to come to the park for a follow-up conversation with the letter-writers and the “sleep-in” participants.
Jutta Mason