friends of dufferin grove park
Friends of Dufferin Grove Park July 2004 Newsletter

In this issue:

posted July 5, 2004
THURSDAY EVENING CIRCLE GAMES:

"Ring Around the Moon": circle games for families

Children's librarian Theo Heras from Lillian Smith Library has had a long-time interest in traditional circle games. She's coming to the park every Thursday to lead parents and children of all ages in these circle games. The fun will begin at 6.30 p.m., near the playground rain shelter, and will run from July 8 to the end of August. All are welcome. So on that day, people can do their farmers' market shopping, eat something cheap and tasty from the bake oven, take the kids to the playground for Theo's free circle game session, and then take everybody home tired and ready for bed. Theo said she wants to do these sessions as a gift to the park, since her own grandchildren have spent so many pleasant hours here (and Theo's son Zio now works at the park).

Summer clubs in the playground:

Last year we had some week-long summer camps. This year we want to try something different, more spontaneous, more like the fun part of the lazy days of summer. Every weekday one or two of the park staff, or special park friends, will run a club beside the wading pool, open to anyone and free, which will offer something interesting and fun to do. Here is the list:

Monday 1–4: Claybuilding or wood crafts, with Bianca (including little clay houses)

Tuesday 10–12.30: Breakfast club fire cooking, with Anna (including pioneer baking and cooking)

Tuesday 1-4: Emma's surprise club (including beading and weaving, and special guest artists)

Wednesday 1-4: Sports day with Amy and Tom (including soccer and even charade-type theatre games)

Thursdays 1-4: Chess with Chris and Tom (we just got ten chess sets from the parks storerooms)

Thursdays 1–4: Knitting, spinning with Jan (who already teaches at the farmers' market)

Friday 3.00–4.30 Scavenger hunt with Liz (including stories and songs that go with the hunt).

Anyone who is in the mood can come as often as they want. Please note this is not a custodial program — parents or caregivers must be in the park, available to their kids. But the adults should bring a good book, because the kids may be off having fun for quite a while.

Parents, if you can't be there and want to arrange for a babysitter to be responsible for your children during that time, we can help you arrange that with a little list of really good caregivers who are available in the park, for $8 per child or $12 for two children. (Some trades are available if you can't afford the rates — e.g. we'll trade you the babysitting if you fix something that's broken in the park, weed a garden, etc.). Talk to the park staff for more information, or call the park at 416 392-0913.

CLAY AND PAPER THEATRE PRESENTS:
Lilith – The True Story of the
First Wife of Adam

Opens at our park on July 16, 17 and 18 at 7.30 p.m. This show is a re-mounting of what Clay and Paper call their "most extravagant show ever," and indeed, the glowing giant puppets for that show, performing under brilliant lights in the grove just north of the baseball diamond two years ago, were unforgettable. There are some new puppets and the show has new material, but the Lilith puppet and the "God Giants" will also be back. Park friends will remember that these puppets were expelled from the rink house by order of the health and safety inspectors on December 18 last year. Now they've returned, and are rehearsing every day beside the field house. (Feel free to watch!)

After the first three performances here at our park, the show will tour other west end parks: Alexandra Park at Dundas and Bathurst, July 23 to 25; Grange Park, just south of the art gallery, from July 30 to August 1; Trinity-Bellwoods from August 6 to 8; and Centre Island from August 13 to 15. Then back to our park again from August 20 to 22.

When the show is on at our park, there will be a bake-oven supper every night as there was during the previous theatre and dance performances at the end of June. And then when the show travels to other parks, we just might follow it with the bake-oven food cart (it has a special bicycle hook-up), to accompany the puppets with some bread and other tasty things. David Anderson, the director of Clay and Paper and Lilith, is the person who first suggested combining a play with a park dinner. That was a wonderful idea, and we may try to honour the work of Clay and Paper by moving a little of the oven food along with the show. For more information about Lilith – the true story of Adam's first wife, go to www.clayandpapertheatre.org

COUNCILLOR GIAMBRONE'S

Summerfest

Sunday July 25, noon to 4 p.m.

The plans MAY include: Music, Spoken Word, Hip Hop Dance, Kid's Theatre, Interactive Art Creations, Comic Book Jam. Meet your Councillor and bring your wallet or your garage sale stuff or both — $10 a table. There will be some free food and fun, says Councillor Giambrone.

To find out more, contact Scott at 416-535-0174 or e-mail him. Scott is the volunteer organizer, and he's enlisted the help of Parks & Recreation, the Toronto Fire Department, the Toronto Cycling Committee, and Enbridge.

Birthday Parties

An the spring, summer, and early fall, people often have a birthday party somewhere in the park -- they bring a picnic, hang a pinata in the tree, and have a good time. Anyone can do that anywhere in the park without arranging permission. (There's never a permit needed in this park for a picnic.) It's permitted to bring your own barbecue, and many people do that (just be skilful so you don't make too much smoke). It's also possible to get a campfire permit from the park staff for $10 but you need to bring wood yourself (we have a fire stand, pot, frying pan, oven mitts, etc., which we lend out for free). To book a fire permit, call the rink house at 416 392-0913.

On Sundays from May to the middle of September, if a birthday party is not too large, you can arrange to have a pizza-making party. We sell portions of dough and toppings and you can bring extra toppings from home if you like. We charge you for the pizza materials ($2 per small pizza) but we don't charge you for the staff to fire the oven and set up for pizza-making. However it's public and therefore you might have to mix with some people who are not in your party, while you're making the pizzas. Just let the park staff know a week or so ahead if you want to be part of Sunday pizza. 416 392-0913.

It is a very cheap way to have a fun birthday party and not have a messy house afterwards, and lots of people do this, and say they have a very good time. The reason we want birthday parties to call ahead is just to make sure we make enough pizza dough.

We almost never accept a private birthday party at the ovens, because the staff are too busy with all the public activities. However, if your Sunday party is over twelve people, we will set up an hour early (12 noon), and that hour is just for your party. It means you have to pay $15 more to cover one extra staff hour. For that, we usually need two weeks' notice.

Sunday Meditation Group:

The meditation leader, Madhavendra, sent this message for the newsletter:

"Join the very friendly group who meditate weekly in the Park every Sunday at 1.00pm (weather permitting). They chant ancient mantras that have a purifying and calming effect on the mind. Bring your musical instruments if you like. They even have delicious vegetarian snacks. Everything is free and everyone is welcome."


Rules of Conduct in the Park:

Some new little signs have gone up in the playground, saying "adults must be accompanied by a child under twelve." There's a park by-law that prevents teenagers, for example, from taking over a playground as the St.Mary's students sometimes do. (Some teenagers think they're still kids but they are too big and rowdy to play alongside little kids.) So - if you're there with kids, you don't have to grin and bear it if there are some 15-year olds taking up all the swings (or drinking in the rain shelter). Point out the signs to them, and if they have trouble grasping the meaning, speak to the park staff.

Dogs off leash: This is not legal but it's common practice at our park. Most of the dog owners are fine and sensible people, and their irregular, often late-night presence makes the park safer. However, sometimes dogs can be scary and owners can be oblivious. If you find a dog intimidating, and the owner is not interested in your friendly request for them to control their dog, talk to the staff. The staff will be glad to talk to the owner or the owner's friends, and straighten it out. This includes the owners of pit bulls. Some of them are friendlier than they look but everyone can use a hint if they unwittingly make people in the park uncomfortable. If you can't find the staff, leave a message about a dog concern on the park on the park phone: 416 392-0913. Please leave your name and number: anonymous messages are annoying and usually don't get action.

Of course there are no dogs allowed in playground, ever, nor EVER in the wading pool (public health rules require the staff to drain the pool if a dog gets in there).

Wading pool and sand pit: The wading pool is chlorinated regularly and children must wear bathing suits or waterproof diapers. The same goes for the sand pit - no nudity allowed. This shocks Europeans who are used to the easy tolerance of kids' nudity on European beaches, but at our park there are so many different cultural perceptions that every little bum has to be covered.

Note also that the sand pit has real shovels in it because it was intended as a play area for older children: little kids can play there too, but if their caregivers are anxious about their safety, please remove the little ones to the small sand box. At the same time, any children who use shovels carelessly should be asked (by any nearby adult) to be more careful, and if there is still a concern, they should have their shovel removed. Staff will help, but if no staff are there, any adult nearby should get involved. (Happily, the sand pit has just passed its tenth year, with a very impressive safety record, because most kids are unbelievably smart, and they want to play, not to hurt each other. Also lots of adults know how to prevent trouble, and then there are about fourteen invisible guardian angels on the lookout as well - how else to explain that the sandpit works so well?)

Please complain

If you find a picnic table that's wobbly or a mess of trash in the gardens or a nail sticking up in the playground, please tell the park staff (you'll usually find them at the playground or near the ovens). They want to keep things in good order and everyone's eyes can help. The same goes for destructive or scary behaviour. If it happens at night, leave a message on the park phone at 416 392-0913 and the staff or park friends will pay extra attention to that spot on the following nights. The city can and will issue trespass letters to people who make trouble in the park, prohibiting those folks from returning until they've cleaned up their act.

A Visit with the Judge

The Honourable Patrick Lesage, retired judge and now in charge of a provincial review of the police complaints process, invited our follow-up research group to come to the Marriott Hotel on June 21 and tell him about our experiences. The conversation lasted for an hour and a half. The judge was surprised to hear about the frequent park drive-throughs by police cars, up on the grass and round and round the park, with the police often driving over the 10 km/hour speed limit. We recommended doing a pilot project here at Dufferin Grove Park, where there would be frank, mutually respectful discussion between police and affected park users of such issues soon after they occur, sponsored by the chief of police. However, it now appears that Chief Julian Fantino will be replaced by a new chief. When that person begins his/her term, we'll approach them with our proposal.

The Follow-Up Research Group

This group is doing research for CELOS: The CEntre for LOcal Research into Public Space. They are getting ready to post their next discoveries on the park web site. They've been researching rink maintenance issues, city park staff "Strategic Plans," insurance agreements that may contribute to the destruction of park playgrounds, Parks and Recreation soft-drink and vending agreements, and consulting contracts. Although Mayor David Miller pledged a more open city hall when he was elected, the research group has encountered many obstacles in their search for information. They have had to resort to filing "freedom of information" applications even for some very ordinary inquiries about documents that ought to be public. They recently had to pay $67.20 to see the last four annual Occupational Health and Safety Reports (from the city division that recommended the destruction of our new rink house kitchen last December and the prohibition of mixed-use for the rink house). However the research group is making progress. Some of the information will go into Jutta Mason's book about the park (and about the history of Toronto parks).

Of concern to CELOS also is the broader movement in North American cities, to drastically centralize municipal departments using computer software, including global positioning devices that monitor the movements of workers. In Baltimore, the poster city for this development, the directors of several departments including Parks and Recreation were recently replaced by computer analysts. The IBM company is very enthusiastic about this movement and it funds numerous research awards for such developments, in collaboration with the John Kennedy School of Digital Government at Harvard.

Here in Toronto, Parks and Recreation buys much of its software from the Class Software company. That company contributes generously to the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, of which the city's Parks and Recreation Division is a member. Can private-public partnerships ever get too friendly? This is one of the questions our research group is following up, as well seeking reasons for the wide gap between the claims made for the new municipal-management computer-tools and the things that actually get done in parks. You can find out more on the CELOS page.

The Rink Mystery

On July 5 the city councillors who are members of the Economic Development and Parks Committee took less than two minutes to approve $800,000 to pay engineers to check out the condition of all Parks and Recreation facilities. They call it "due diligence," which sounds very sensible. But here's a problem: later the same morning the same councillors met to approve a new Strategic Plan for Parks and Rec, and that plan says that most of the facilities listed in the $800,000 contract have already been inspected. (Certainly all the outdoor rinks around here have.)

Jutta Mason went up to Committee Chair Brian Ashton and Commissioner Joe Halstead after the meeting, to ask about this puzzle - which story was right? Councillor Ashton just walked away but Mr. Halstead took a moment to insist that there was no contradiction, that this inspection will be quite different than the last one. But we're mystified. We're going to get the original plans for the first inspection in 2001, and compare it to the plans for the second inspection. And if we find that the two inspections are pretty similar, we can ask the councillors to reconsider whether they really want to go over all the same ground again, or whether they would like to use that $800,000 to actually fix some things that are broken.

Like our rink cracks. Or that dirt path that forms the main thoroughfare through our park. Paving was first suggested in 1925 and it's still not done! The big and little folks in wheelchairs and strollers who bump along there, don't need an engineering study to tell them that paving would be a help. We'll follow up on this engineering study, and report back in the next issue of the newsletter.

Crowds at the park

It will be obvious to many people that the park was very event-filled and crowded during the last two weeks of June. There were wonderful things happening, but sometimes it seemed a bit TOO lively. There are some more very nice events coming up during the rest of the summer, but not so relentlessly. Parks should also be peaceful places, for people to just read and talk and have family picnics, and throw a frisbee around. Hopefully during the rest of the summer, there will be plenty of such peaceful times.


For ongoing updates on Dufferin Grove Park, and to share your views on community issues, join our Friends of Dufferin Grove email listserve. Just click here to join.

Newsletter prepared by: Jutta Mason; Illustrations: Jane LowBeer

Technical support: John Culbert

Webmasters:Henrik Bechmann, Joe Adelaars, Caitlin Shea

Park phone: 416 392-0913; street address: 875 Dufferin Street

E-mail: dufferinpark@dufferinpark.ca

List Serve: Emily Visser, Bernard King

Park photographer: Wallie Seto