In this issue:
- Park debt is paid off
- Special events in September
- Farmers' market news
- Samba at 90 Croatia Street
- The bigger park picture
- Picnics and parties
THE PARK DEBT IS PAID OFF
Faster than we thought possible, the park is back in the black. To recap: It looked grim on August 4, when we found out that the back wages owed to park staff amounted to almost $9000, and that there was not enough money in the city's summer budget for our park to cover this debt, nor even enough to run the park until the end of the summer.
How did this happen? There had been, as is not uncommon in the city bureaucracy, a very long delay between staff being hired and them getting their city number (there's a huge number of staff city-wide, and it gets complicated). One application was lost in the system without our knowing, and when we tracked it down, the lengthy process (3 months) of getting the required a police check to make sure she was not a terrorist or a child molester had to start all over. That staff person alone was owed over $5000 (she started in April, and the busier the park got, the more hours she worked). The park staff thought the paycheck delay was a heaven-sent chance for enforced saving, so they got by on the cash wages they were paid for "friends of the park" activities and didn't complain about the absence of city paychecks as early as they might have. And Jutta, wanting more staff to work more hours so she could work on her book rather than working in the park, was not paying as close attention as she should have been.
How was it fixed? When we found out the extent of our troubles, we cleaned out what was left in the "Friends of Dufferin Grove Park" bank account to start paying back wages, and then the park staff got together and made a plan. Instead of getting rid of staff they all took lower wages and did some of the work for free. This meant that the fund-raising target was lowered. Then we put up some posters in the park, Jutta mentioned our troubles on the weekly market news e-mails, and good things began to happen:
Cash donations: By August 9, the staff were still owed $8385.72. Over the next three weeks, cheques arrived in the mail or were dropped off at the park, in amounts between $20 and $500. A few cheques were from grandparents in other cities. Some of the benefactors were known to us, some not. Some families who probably have little grocery money to spare, still gave us a donation. A colourful donation jar that staff person Bianca Morgan made for the wading pool got coins and bills. Jutta was stopped when she was in the park and people gave her their money. When the staff tried to give change to diners at Friday night supper, it was sometimes refused. Two wonderful local cooks, Lindsay Karabanow and Suchada Promchiri, dropped off food donations for us to sell at the food cart: rotis from Lindsay (she sells them at the farmers' market too) and mini-croissants and other confections from Suchada (who's about to open a pastry-shop at College and Dovercourt). A friendly woman whose name we don't even know came by twice with tasty Jamaican ginger-peanut brittle and banana bread that she had made, which we sold as well. By September 1, we had received $4127.61 in donations. But that was not all -
Good weather: the cool weather let go its grip enough in August that the park food sales went up, both at the food cart by the wading pool and at Friday Night Supper. The summer baking staff baked their heads off and raised more money selling bread at the farmers' market. So the park food income by the end of August was $13,923.58. After the August park supplies ($532.05) and the groceries ($4701.41) were deducted, that left $8690.12.
In the barn at Sosnicki Farms
Farmers: we always charge the farmers a "table fee" for coming to the market (the cheapest in the city, actually - $10 per table-length plus $5 if they need to borrow a table from us). That's used to cover the market staffing and related expenses. In August, the market table fees came to $1258, so that added some more to our total income. (On top of that, the farmers donated produce here and there, lowering our Friday Night Supper grocery costs).
City winter funds: The city let us re-direct some funds from the December rink allocation to help keep the wading pool going. That means that the rink snack bar income will have to help run the rink - but there's nothing new in that. So the city contributed $4154.84 to the summer program and debt repayments from August 9 to Aug. 29.
Jutta's writing holiday: Jutta took a month off from writing her park book (writers love to procrastinate anyway) and turned her attention back to the park more fully.
Results: the wading pool stayed open, and most of the other summer activities carried on. By August 29, all overdue staff wages were paid off, and there's a cushion of just over $600 back in the "Friends of Dufferin Grove Park" bank account, so we can pay for the next park organic flour order and the groceries needed for all the park events in September. On September 1, the staff ripped down all the green "we're in trouble" posters that we'd posted in the park. Wonderful. What a relief.
PARK SPECIAL EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER:
Sunday Sept.5, 4 p.m. Annual MORRIS DANCERS' ALE. Organized, as usual, by John Parkinson. Morris dancers date back from farm labourers' resistance to early industrial conditions in Great Britain in the eighteenth century. The dancers often wear bells strapped to their legs; some are in blackface (this refers to a miners' disguise, not an attempt to change race); some dance with swords. It's very energetic, and exhilarating to watch. Groups from other parts of Ontario, NY State, sometimes even Britain, have been coming to this park for years on the Sunday of Labour Day weekend. The groups dance for one another to show off their latest dances, and eat fresh bread and chutney, and make pizza and drink ale. The jets from the CNE air show always thunder overhead. The "Ale" is not a public event per se, but they welcome anyone who comes over to watch, and they often share their food.
Saturday Sept.11, SIXTEENTH ANNUAL DUFFERIN GROVE NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET FAIR, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Organized, as usual, by Liz Martin. Schedule: 10 a.m. lawn sale along east side of park - clean out your basement. 12 p.m. hot dog lunch beside lawn sale. 5 p.m. kids' games (sack races and the like - this needs a few parents to organize it - call Liz at 536-6240). 6.30 p.m. potluck and $2 pizza at the bake oven -bring plates, cutlery, extra pizza toppings. 7 p.m. cakewalk (creative cake baking). After dinner - street dancing (on Havelock Street, across from the park)
Saturday Sept.25 at sunrise, then noon to 5 p.m., SEVENTH ANNUAL NATIVE CHILD AND FAMILY POW WOW "HONOURING OUR YOUTH." Organized by Steve Teekens. This pow wow begins at sunrise in the main park fire circle. All are welcome. This year the sunrise ceremony will be led by Alex Jacobs, an Ojibway originally from Matagami First Nation. Steve describes him as "a respected elder who has a wealth of knowledge in Native Culture." At 12 noon there is the grand entry of elders and dancers. The host drums are the Red Spirit Singers and Eagle Heart Singers, both groups from Toronto. There will be interesting children's crafts and storytelling, buffalo burgers and tacos, the giant teepees, and all the usual exciting hubbub. This year the playground will have extra supervision and the shovels and tap will be removed from the sand pit, because of the crowds of children using the playground (taking a break from the dancing).
Sunday Sept.26 11 a.m. to 10 pm. SECOND ANNUAL "DUFFERIN GROOVE" SHINNY HOCKEY PLAYERS' CONCERT. - "Dufferin Groove" is the name of the confederation of Dufferin Rink shinny hockey players who belong to eight (or more) different bands. They will be playing, with pauses, down in the hollow by Dufferin Street, with the amps facing into the hill to swallow the sound, away from the neighborhood. The concert is for fun and to benefit the park - proceeds from food sold to hungry musicians and their friends/audience will all go back to the park.
PARK GROUP PICNICS IN SEPTEMBER
Centre for Indigenous Theatre
FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program)- this is a picnic for people who get up at 4.30 a.m. in Spring and Fall to rescue migratory birds that are stunned or injured when they fly into the sides of the TD building or the Royal Bank Building by mistake
Church of Scientology lay pastors' picnic
Workers' Information Centre annual BBQ.
FARMERS' MARKET NEWS:
During August there were three farm visits. The last one was on August 29, to Jessie and Ben Sosnicki's, about 2 hours west of here, near the town of Simcoe. Jessie invited the park/ market staff to a barbecue, and she and Ben also set up a tour of their neighbours' organic dairy farm. The neighbours are Karl and Anita Schibli.
They're Swiss, also from a long farming background (Jesse and Ben are fourth and fifth generation farmers), and a strong source of inspiration and sound organic advice for Ben and Jessie. There are photos from all the farms we visited recently, in the market pages.
Karl showed us his herd of forty Swiss cows with hides that looked like gray velvet, and his huge bales of hay stacked up so high they were like a hay cathedral. He also grows rye and spelt and soft wheat, and we're scheming how we might get his grain cleaned before it's pooled with all the other grains (from all over Canada, that go to the Tavistock mill) -- so that our park bread could have truly local grain in it.
Ben Sosnicki took us all through the fields, riding on the back of his tractor wagon. We got to hop off and pick what we fancied -- hot peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, eggplants -- and then scrape the deep mud off our shoes and hop back on again. Afterwards Jesse showed us the horses, the giant cold room (like a fridge, only six times the size of our rink house) and the apparatus that cleans the vegetables before market. Jessie's sister Amber Snively, who works with them to harvest, and her mother Teresa Snively, had helped to make an ample, delicious barbecue (with Jessie's cabbage rolls as a side), and we (nine of us from the park) felt like we had ended up at the best party.
For information about visiting the farms that supply food to our market, including pick-your-own visits, talk to the farmers at the market -- some even have accommodation for people willing to help pick, in return for food or wages. And to get on the weekly farmers market news list, send an e-mail to market@dufferinpark.ca, and we'll put you on.
SAMBA AT 90 CROATIA STREET
A few summers ago, Alan Hetherington and his samba band rehearsed every Sunday afternoon in the park near Dufferin Street. Lots of people watched and enjoyed themselves but eventually it got to noisy for the neighbourhood, and we had to ask them to stop. Now that the Royal Conservatory of Music is moving into our neighbourhood (into the former Ursula Franklin High School building, Brockton High School before that, located across from the north end of the Dufferin Mall), Alan and his samba group are back, but playing inside the conservatory. Just a block from the park! On Friday Sept.17, 7 p.m., three samba groups will have a performance of Brazilian music, dance and pageantry, in honour of Brazilian Independence Day, at 7 p.m. (tickets $10 at the door). The groups are Escola de Samba de Toronto, Brazil Nativa Dance Company, and Axe Capoeira. A good thing to go to after Friday night supper, which will feature a Brazilian menu that night.
Then every Sunday afternoon from September 19, at 3 pm., you can go over to 90 Croatia Street and learn Samba percussion and dance (bring the kids) at 3 p.m. Alan says they're really looking forward to returning to the community after a few years "in exile." Good!
EDITORIAL:
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PARK DEBT — THE BIGGER PICTURE
When the many people who are friends of the park first found out that the park was in arrears, lots of us thought up fundraising ideas. But just the thought of some of the effort that would be needed made us tired, particularly because this was another very active summer in the park and some of us were already tired. In the end, it seemed that directly asking people to give between $25 and $50 was the best way to get out of our hole. That turned out to be workable. However, it's not really a way to run a public park in the long run - public space is meant to be tax-funded.
The trouble is, over the past eleven years this park grew from being a bit of an orphan, and a convenient neighbourhood short-cut to the mall, into a community-centre-without-walls. But as more people began coming to the park for open-air enjoyment of one kind or another, city staffing followed only reluctantly. The availability of food in the park has grown, and that means more income is available to run the park as well. However, the food income has become so important to running the park now that any threat to the food operations (and there are undoubtedly more regulatory troubles to come) will endanger what goes on here. To put some numbers on this:
Total city recreation wages paid at Dufferin Grove Park Jan.1, 2004 to Aug. 29, 2004: $71,382.34 Total cash wages for additional recreation and maintenance activities paid at Dufferin Grove Park (mainly from food income) Jan.1 to Aug.31: $46,455.73
So the real cost of running the park (not counting the city maintenance, as far as it goes) will be greater than $120,000 by the end of the year. Compared to community centres with walls, that's not bad. For example the two nearest centres to our park, Wallace-Emerson and McCormick, cost nearly $1 million a year (in tax money) to run, despite their income from permit fees. (The number of people who use a built centre and the number who use a lively park like ours is similar, with the park sometimes coming off slightly better.) So, running a park like a community centre could be seen as a bargain.
The city has a heavy financial burden in running all its community recreation centre buildings. For one thing, there are so many. Within 5-15 minutes by bike from our park, in various directions, there are six community recreation centre buildings, and there's strong pressure to build a seventh (Wabash). The cost of staffing and maintaining all these buildings makes it very hard for the city to find enough money for the simpler operations, like our park. City managers struggle and plan and have meetings and set "productivity" targets. And as the centres turn more and more to "pay per use," the community public space element gets weaker. Whole sections of community centres can be pre-empted for paid permits: for example, movie shoots (Trinity Bellwoods), or after-hours clubs (Masaryk-Cowan) or private swimming-pool birthday parties (Wallace Emerson). And still the centres are far from covering their costs. City planners proliferate, studies and repeat studies are launched, and still it's undeniable: the city is in a pickle. And therefore, so is our park.
The solutions are not simple...
When our park budget crisis became known, some folks waggled their eyebrows a bit. Surely this was a sign that we should now do the right thing, get a board with an executive, have proper meetings with proper protocol? At this park there are so many things done on a handshake, so many surprises, so much informal talk at the sand pit or the oven. Surely we would not have got into this trouble if we'd been more organized?
Then again, perhaps we would not have had so much to get in trouble about, because our park might have stayed more of the orphan it was formerly. The city is rich in defunct advisory groups that foundered before the ink was dry on their constitutions. Dufferin Grove Park is rich in friends, i.e. over the years there has been a gradual accumulation of people who are friendly to the park, and friendly to one another at the park. So here's an interesting test - can our park and its friends help to untangle the knots that the city has tied itself in, not only for our park, but for other parks as well? This question will hopefully be part of the conversations that swirl around at the park during the next season. If anybody hears anything good on the subject, please let us know for the newsletter - contact editor@dufferinpark.ca, or call 416 392-0913 and leave your name and number, or hunt up the park staff and share your knowledge with them).
-- Jutta
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