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Permit Requests 2006

Matzo Bake

Request date: April 04, 2006

Dear Mr. DiCastro,

I am a community member and frequent user of Dufferin Grove park. In the past few years my family has greatly enjoyed attending the annual Matzo Bake at the wood fire ovens in the park, and this year when the usual organizer Annie Hurwitz asked for volunteers to organize in her absence, I came forward to ensure that this fantastic event take place.

As I understand it, this year marks the 8th annual Matzo Bake. This is the ONLY event of its kind in Toronto for Passover and Jewish families look forward to attending from the local Dufferin Grove community and from across Toronto. It is especially significant for such an event, in a public park, to mark a Jewish holiday, when so many events tend to mark Christian holidays. It is one of many events at Dufferin Grove in which Park staff and Friends of Dufferin Grove collaborate with the local community to better reflect the diversity of the neighbourhood and city in which we live. The event has been a product of this collaboration every year.

I understand that this year a new process is in place by which such events become formalized through a Special Permits form, which I will submit. In years past, the community organizers of the Matzo Bake have paid for one Friends of Dufferin Grove staff day for an oven operations person (this includes time spent koshering the oven as well as baking the matzo). We are asking that the City provide staff for 5 hours, from 2pm to 5pm, to assist with crowd control, park maintenance, and baking. This event is funded entirely by voluntary donations from the families who attend--these donations must already cover considerable costs, including purchasing and shipping Kosher matzo flour which is only available in Montreal. We are asking that the City grant us a fee waiver so that we can afford to put on this event.

Please feel free to contact me at this address or at (416) 588-4025 should you require any further information.

All the best, Emily Paradis

Response date: April 06, 2006

Dear Ms. Paradis, It is great that your event is returning for an eighth year at Dufferin Grove Park. Please continue to pay for the oven operation staff and Toronto Recreation will subsidize the extra staff need of five hours at a cost of $72.72. I have forwarded your request to have the permit fee waived, and will inform you of the outcome.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any issues.

Tino DeCastro Supervisor of Community Recreation

Clarification: April 18, 2006

Please ensure that groups wanting to have fees waived must address their letter to Brenda Librecz, the general manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation. They need to state that they are a non for profit group and provide financial statement.

Response from Jutta April 18, 2006

Hmmmm -- pretty odd, this request that park friends wanting to add some fun to the park must provide a financial statement for a non-profit organization, or pay $53 to give their neighbourly gifts. No Easter-egg-painting group or maypole dancers or matza-bread makers or "earth day fire keepers" or similar neighborhood groups can provide financial statements. Not one quarter of the small groups that do small events in the park are not-for-profit organizations with financial statements. Who is asking for this?

Wouldn't it be much more reflective of reality if all these small community events could be once again (as they were until recently) co-sponsored by Parks and Rec? (That means fostered, rather than discouraged.) How about it?

Response, April 18, 2006

I think this reference is to agencies like Working Women Community Centre. Of course groups that are not so formal, would be obvious. Tino

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