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News 2008
Latest Playground News 2008
From the December 2008 Newsletter:
Playground update
CELOS has produced its first playground bulletin, available at the park or online on the dufferinpark.ca website, in the “playground” section. It compares the work ordered by the city inspectors and their CSA reports, with the actual work done. The celos.ca web site has a great deal of other material posted on its playground section, including some very engaging adventure playground descriptions and pictures. CELOS has a mountain of additional material, not yet posted, but the story is coming together.
City Councillor Adam Giambrone says he had hoped to have a community meeting about the future plans for the Dufferin Grove playground, before the end of 2008, but then it got too close to Christmas. The meeting will now be sometime in January, at St.Mary’s High School. It should be lively.
From the December 2008 Newsletter:
Wading pool update
The first stage of the renovation project was completed on December 4. The work took place on 2 days in September, 8 days in October, 3 days in November and 2 days in December. The workers were nice people, who must be quite busy elsewhere as well. The new paving around the pool seems to be done, with a long semi-circular stone bench and a chess table. The plumbing upgrades seem to be mostly done, with much-improved lighter aluminum covers for the water control pit. Now no one can lose their fingers (or worse) to a heavy pit cover falling on them. There’s a new drinking fountain. And the new asphalt paths have made going through the park a lot easier. Sadly, there are deep mud ruts along one side of the path already, where the park vehicles drive to pick up trash.
Altogether, the project took just over thirteen weeks from the scheduled start date (i.e. Sept. 2, right after the wading pool closed for the season) to get to the end of the first stage. None of the down times were due to bad weather. If the construction start date had been last May 1, as was originally planned, the wading pool would have stayed closed until August. Bravo to City Councillor Adam Giambrone for agreeing to change the construction schedule!
From the November 2008 Newsletter:
PLAYGROUNDS IN CONTEXT
Councillor Adam Giambrone was notified last summer that Dufferin Grove playground is on the list to be replaced in 2009. The main reason given for removing the current structures is possible liability claims due to lack of compliance with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) playground standards.
This raises many questions, including the whole story of all the playgrounds that were destroyed in Toronto schoolyards, again because of CSA standards, eight years ago. CELOS recently discovered, through Freedom of Information, that since amalgamation, there were only ten playground injury claims against the city. Eight of those were due to broken links in swing chains, protruding bolts, and other maintenance issues. None were attributed to the failure to comply with CSA standards. Court records across Canada show no instance in which a case was won on the basis of the CSA standards. Search of court records in any case turned up very few playground injury-claims – such claims are rare. And there is a growing backlash against the effect of the “risk police” on children’s play, both in North America and Europe. To read more, go to celos.ca (research/ parks playgrounds).
The other issue that CELOS has been following is the distribution of capital budget funds throughout the city. One of our befriended “sister parks,” R.V.Burgess Park in Thorncliffe Park (East York), is surrounded by a huge newcomer population (mainly from Pakistan), with many young children. The park has very sparse play equipment, some of it broken.
Mothers have joined a group to canvass their neighbours about what kinds of improvements they want for their park. Play equipment is at the top of the list. But the women have been told they would have to raise a lot of the money themselves, since that park is not scheduled for playground improvement until between 2013 and 2017! CELOS will try to find out why Dufferin Grove playground is so much ahead, in the replacement schedule, compared to a playground that is much worse off.
From the November 2008 Newsletter:
WADING POOL RENOVATION
After three weeks of no work done on the wading pool, the construction crew worked eight days in the two weeks that followed. They laid new stone pavers, did half the plumbing, and put in three new asphalt paths. Cyclists are enjoying the new paths very much. For step-by-step pictures of the construction project (including of many nice photos of Big Trucks), go to dufferinpark.ca, click on “playground,” click on “wading pool.”
From the October 2008 Newsletter:
WADING POOL RENOVATION
The company doing the wading pool renovation installed the construction fence on September 24, and cleared away some benches and some earth around the pool perimeter. They also carved out the new paths from Havelock and Gladstone, and laid down a bed of rolled sand, and in some places gravel, for the new asphalt walkways. The work went on for two days (Sept.25 and 26). There was no work done for over a week, and then there was a site meeting between project manager Peter Didiano, Parks plumber Tom Feeney, Parks maintenance supervisor Peter Leiss, and the contractor. Then nothing again. (Wallace Emerson Pool up the road has been closed for over a year due to stalled construction work – that’s why people are a little anxious about any city project now.) CELOS is posting a daily progress reports, hoping for the trucks to come back: www.dufferinpark.ca.
From the October 2008 Newsletter:
CITY PLAYGROUNDS LINK UP WITH THE GLOBAL FAST LANE
Riddle:
How are playgrounds connected with the famous Gucci fashion house? Or Arab oil wealth?
Answer: (follow the steps)
1. The city’s Canadian Standards Association playground replacement program had Belair Recreational Products Inc as its largest supplier ($1.4 million) between 2000 and 2004. Belair shares an address with Little Tikes Commercial (Canada) in the town of Paris, Ontario. Little Tikes Commercial (Canada) is a branch of a very large American company, and it also sold a lot of playground replacement equipment to the Toronto Parks Department (almost $700,000).
2. Little Tikes Commercial was bought by Rubbermaid in 1993, and then both were bought by the giant Newell Corporation.
3. Newell seems to have sold Little Tikes to a playground company called PlayPower soon after 2000. PlayPower has a Canadian office just up the road from Belair, in Paris Ontario.
4. In 2002, PlayPower was bought by Investcorp, based in Bahrain, an “intermediate investment group” created to “funnel Gulf States wealth into Western investments.” Investcorp made the news when it bought Gucci ten years earlier. Google is helping CELOS to find out what happened next…playgrounds are big business.
From the September 2008 Newsletter:
PLAYGROUND NEWS
The culture of “throwaway playgrounds”
In the summer of 2000, the Toronto school boards tore out 172 playgrounds. Around the same time, other freestanding provincially-funded daycares removed many of their best structures. And the City pf Toronto Parks department began a $6 million “playground safety project” that resulted in the removal and replacement of 49 park playground structures and the removal of swings, climbers, and other play pieces in hundreds of other park playgrounds. Many parents objected, saying that the new plastic playgrounds and replacement pieces were dull and dumbed down. Playground use went down.
All these changes were laid at the door of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), a manufacturers’ group that puts out voluntary “standards” for playground structures every few years. But the CSA denied that their standards had ever been meant to apply to existing structures – only to new equipment. Since then the CSA has updated its standards twice, most recently in 2007. This latest edition again specified: “The Children’s Playspaces and Equipment standard is not retroactive and is intended to be applied only to new playspaces equipment and to additions and replacement parts of existing playspaces and equipment.”
However, the Parks planning section recently notified Councillor Adam Giambrone “we have determined that the senior play structure at Dufferin Grove is to be replaced with equipment that meets the CSA guidelines for playgrounds. The main issues being that the existing equipment does not meet the standard and potentially expose users to risk and the City to liability in the event of an injury.”
But it turns out that playground injury claims against the City have been few and low in cost. Through a Freedom of Information request in 2005, CELOS discovered that between 1998 (the first year data were available) and 2004, there were only four park playground injury claims against the City, adding up to $11,460. The City has compiled no information sheet on park playground injury claims to the present, but is willing to search for that information for CELOS for a fee of $160. When so many playgrounds are scheduled to come down for reasons of possible liability, City Risk staff might think of publishing their own summary of playground injury information, instead of making us pay for it with playground cookie money. But – as the Count used to say on Sesame Street – who’s counting?
The fact is, Dufferin Grove’s 25-year-old wooden play structure is the last remaining example of an excellent type of playground, and it’s still in good shape. More recently-installed pieces are breaking sooner. The four-way teeter-totter, only ten years old, had one of its sections break off this spring; one of the parents had to make a new wooden seat for the two-way teeter-totter. Perhaps the lower quality of more recent play equipment is the reason why planners now consider even 15-year-old playgrounds ready for the dump. But how many good playgrounds will be added to the trash heap before the pendulum swings the other way?
Community playground ideas – accessible to all the kids
On August 22, there was a Speakers’ Series panel about playgrounds. With over a hundred playground pictures from playgrounds all over the city and in Europe, it was more like a photo exhibit than a meeting, but many people there had ideas about what works. Playground parent Ann Shaddock proposed that, rather than tear down the much-loved wooden structure, the City should keep it, fix the few small maintenance issues, and use the new playground funds to add a new section to the playground in the northwest corner. That corner is still empty after a slide was removed eight years ago.
Playground parent Pamela Andrews couldn’t come to the meeting, but she wrote to the neighborhood e-mail list asking for a more accessible playground. She described her five year old son, who has cerebral palsy, “sitting on the sidelines watching – it’s so sad. But he's just getting too big for me to carry him around to all the playground equipment (and I'm 6 months pregnant). He really wants to play and it breaks my heart.” Pamela wrote that her little boy particularly loves the swing, “but is no longer able to go in one (too big for the baby swing, can't balance on an adult swing).”
So playground parents Catherine Cameron and Silvie Varone have put together a proposal to move the northwest playground fence slightly and to add a new, accessible section similar in size to the new playground area that was recently installed at Trinity- Bellwoods Park. That area has an oval rubber surface that is soft but smooth enough for wheelchairs. Since the special $20,000 sand surface in the Dufferin Grove playground budget would make the existing playground inaccessible, these parents suggested leaving the current playground surface as it is and putting rubber surfacing under as good a mixed-use play structure as the equipment budget ($25,000) can afford, including at least one accessible swing. Playground parent Dave Howard has made a drawing of the playground to show where this new section could fit, without the need to tear down the existing equipment.
There will be lots of opportunity for playground users to talk about this proposal and about other ideas, as the children play. The picture-boards will be up every weekend and can be added to as people like. The bulletin boards will add more information as it comes in. Councillor Giambrone has said he will be calling a public meeting to discuss the plans. Collaboration with the experts – playground users – is the key.
posted on August 28, 2008
Inside Toronto: Parents don't want change at their local playground
By: LISA RAINFORD
Published: August 27, 2008
Source: Inside TorontoParents are wary about potential changes the city could make to their kids' beloved Dufferin Grove Park playground, which is slated for "renewal" next spring.
Ward 18 (Davenport) Councillor Adam Giambrone confirmed that the city is in the midst of a public consultation process and said that people are concerned about what might replace the existing playground equipment. It needs replacing "because things wear out and safety issues have come to light," he said, but didn't elaborate.
The potential changes to the park are part of a $6 million 'playground safety project' launched in 2000.
Simon Evans, whose five-year-old daughter Haylee plays regularly at Dufferin Grove Park, said his concern, one he shares with many of the parents in the neighbourhood, is more about what the play structure could be replaced with than the fact that it is being replaced.
"The (playgrounds) we've seen (that have been replaced) don't encourage any challenge. Our daughter gets bored," Evans said.
From the August 2008 Newsletter:
THREE GREAT WADING POOLS: DUFFERIN, MACGREGOR, CAMPBELL.
Dufferin Grove wading pool is open seven days a week all summer except during stormy weather, from 11 a.m. until 6 pm (with extended hours on days over 29 degrees Celsius). The 2008 wading pool renovation plans will be on display most days. (The renovations are to begin right after Labour Day weekend.) Also posted on the bulletin board are archival photos and old newspaper clippings of the ground-breaking for the original wading pool in 1954. It was called the “Abe Orpen Memorial Wading Pool,” in honour of the original owner of the Dufferin Park Race Track, whose family donated the money to build it. That track, located where the Dufferin Mall is now, drew people from all over Toronto. Betting on horses was a big part of the local economy.
On hot days in summer, Dufferin Grove’s wading pool sometimes gets too crowded. Two other nearby local wading pools are getting help from Dufferin Grove staff this summer. MacGregor Park wading pool www.macgregorpark.ca on Lansdowne north of College has games and arts activities every weekday from 10 until 4, snacks and coffee available. Their schedule: gardening, Monday from 12-4pm with Yo Utano. Martial Arts, Monday and Friday 6pm-7:30pm, with Andrew Dodd, all ages welcome. Crafts with Flora: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning 10am -11. Tuesday and Friday are dedicated to crocheting, with some of the older women in the neighbourhood joining in the circle. Flora will be starting the kids on finger knitting bracelets, then to crochet, string and then design, also kernel pictures, masks, jewelry, etc. Story Time: Tuesday afternoon, 2pm-3pm. Kids will be working with Charlene turning a local urban legend into a story book, with book reading, performance after 6 weeks. Basketball:Wednesday afternoon, 2pm-3pm. round-up at the courts, basketballs provided, drills, passing, shooting and game.
Campbell Park wading pool www.campbellpark.ca on Campbell Ave. north of Wallace Ave. has music for kids (including instrument-making) every Friday at 2.45, snacks available, crafts in the afternoons, and lots of impromptu fun as well.
From the August 2008 Newsletter:
MYSTERY LOSS OF HALF THE SWINGS: WHAT YOU CAN DO
Near the end of June, kids and parents came to the playground one morning and found half the swings removed. City Councillor Adam Giambrone toured the park on June 27, and he was just as puzzled as the playground users were – no one had informed him of the decision to remove playground equipment. We asked Chris Gallop from the councillor’s office to find out (1) whether there are any new rules for how far apart swings are supposed to be and who made those rules and (2) whether the City has ever had an injury claim for an accident involving colliding swings. Chris found out that the Canadian Standards Association issued a press release saying that their latest playground standards are NOT meant to be applied retroactively to existing equipment, only to new.
But the councillor’s office has been unable to get any more information from city staff, since the manager is on holidays, and no one else is in charge of the playgrounds. Nobody home! Councillor Giambrone intends to bring a motion to City Council about this playground problem. In the meantime, CELOS has found out through freedom of information that in 13 years there were only 5 playground injury claims against the City, all of them small. (But there may be more in future – after the playgrounds were “safety-ed” by removing so much equipment, the injury rates gradually started climbing.)
Some playground user comments: From Silvie Varone: What really frustrates me about the disappearing swings is watching the kids disappointment when there aren't enough swings to go around. Now they can't relax because they don't want to miss their turn, and battles ensue when two children reach the swings at the same time. This rarely happened when there were more swings. I guess the 'organization' that thinks it knows what is safest for our children doesn’t think that these social and community aspects are very important.
From Kathryn Scharf: It seems that the swing corner of the park is now not as much of a gathering place for parents and kids – an example of how small physical elements in public space can have quite large impacts on social uses.
Playground users who want to find out more can call or write to City Councillor Adam Giambrone: 416 392-7012, or Councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca.
From the July 2008 Newsletter:
MYSTERY LOSS OF HALF THE SWINGS: WHAT YOU CAN DO
Near the end of June, kids and parents came to the playground one morning and found half the swings removed. This may be a renewal of the playground safety projects that saw so many park and school playgrounds destroyed in the last wave of risk reduction. City Councillor Adam Giambrone toured the park on June 27, and he was just as puzzled as the playground users were – no one had informed him of the decision to remove playground equipment. If the motive turns out to be the possible liability risk (of swings colliding sideways), that’s still a puzzle – because there’s no record of a child ever being hurt by colliding swings in a Toronto park. In fact the number of playground injury claims against the city over the years, for any reason, is very low. (CELOS is still negotiating with Parks and Recreation about the price of getting the exact number and types of injury in playground and skating rink claims, since all such information for the public now costs money.)
Many playground users have complained to the recreation staff about the removals of the equipment without any consultation. There’s also an anxiety that more equipment will be dismantled. But complaints to on-site staff won’t help – they had no more hint than anyone else that this would happen. The only remedy is to call or write to City Councillor Adam Giambrone’s office: 416 392-7012, or e-mail Councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca.
From the July 2008 Newsletter:
WADING POOL
The wading pool is open seven days a week all summer except during stormy weather, from 11 a.m. until 6 pm (with extended hours on days over 29 degrees Celsius). The 2008 wading pool renovation plans will be on display most days. (The renovations are to begin right after Labour Day weekend.) Also to be posted on the bulletin board are archival photos and old newspaper clippings of the ground-breaking for the original wading pool in 1954. It was called the “Abe Orpen Memorial Wading Pool,” in honour of the original owner of the Dufferin Park Race Track, whose family donated the money to build it. That track, located where the Dufferin Mall is now, drew people from all over Toronto. Betting on horses was a big part of the local economy.
On hot days in summer, Dufferin Grove’s wading Pool sometimes gets too crowded. Two other nearby local wading pools are getting help from Dufferin Grove staff this summer: MacGregor Park wading pool at Lansdowne near College, and Campbell Park wading pool near Lansdowne and Dupont. The first is the arts club pool and the second is the music club pool – check them out and avoid the crowds.
From the June 2008 Newsletter:
Wading Pool News
The Dufferin Grove guideline for wading pool opening is: the wading pool opens after school’s out for the summer UNLESS the temperature is 29 celsius or over for two days in a row before the end of school – then the pool will be open earlier. To find out for sure, call the park at 416 392-0913 – the staff will record a message for early openings.
The wading pool renovation plans will be posted on the nearby bulletin board. The renovations will begin right after Labour Day weekend. Also to be posted on the bulletin board: archival photos and old newspaper clippings of the ground-breaking for the original wading pool in 1954. It was called the “Abe Orpen Memorial Wading Pool,” in honour of the original owner of the Dufferin Park Race Track, whose family donated the money to build it. That track, located where the Dufferin Mall is now, drew people from all over Toronto Betting on horses was a big part of the local economy.
On hot days in summer, Dufferin Grove’s “Abe Orpen Wading Pool” sometimes gets too crowded. Two other nearby local wading pools will get help from Dufferin Grove staff this summer: MacGregor wading pool at Lansdowne near College, and Campbell Park wading pool near Lansdowne and Dupont. Both will be a lot of fun – check them out and avoid the crowds.
From the April 2008 Newsletter:
Wading Pool
WADING POOL NEWS
Councillor Adam Giambrone has sent word that the wading pool’s facelift will begin right after Labour Day – rather than in May (the previous date planned by the city).
A May construction start would have meant surrounding part of the playground and all of the wading pool with a “KEEP OUT” construction fence, during all of the spring and most likely part of the summer. Not a good idea. But the fall start-date has raised some anxiety. For example, a parent at Dewson School wrote to the other parents: “A wading pool audit a few years back suggested it was among the worst pools in the city and that it should be prioritized for a fix…We are so close to getting improvements implemented but work has yet to begin. If the project is delayed much longer, the opportunity to improve the pool may be lost altogether.”
However, a look at the audit report (posted on the dufferinpark.ca website), ranking Dufferin Grove’s wading pool problems, shows only one “high priority” item – the broken drinking fountain. (The report’s comments section also ranked the scarcity of grass around the pool as a concern, perhaps unaware of the function of sand play.)
All the rest of the Dufferin pool problems were ranked as either “average” or “low” priority. Strangely, one of the “low” priorities was the pool piping and valves. The valves are so stiff and rusted that the wading pool staff can barely make them turn. The inspector clearly didn’t talk to any wading pool staff when he did the audit.
Thankfully the staff got the chance to describe the valve problem to the landscape architect at the public meeting last summer. He did some more research, and the revised plan includes a much better mechanism for staff to fill the pool, and empty it at the end of the day.
Copies of the wading pool renovation blueprints are posted on the main bulletin board inside the rink house, and will be posted at the field house when the weather warms up. Park users who know how to read blueprints: please share your knowledge with other playground users, in case there are any last-minute concerns.
There is no suggestion, from anywhere at the City, that waiting until after this summer’s pool season will scuttle the project. And Councillor Giambrone says that whatever final bits of the work don’t get completed this fall will get done in the early spring next year. No worries.
WADING POOLS AND CAPITAL PROJECTS: The big picture
"Play sub-project #235" – that’s the name of the Dufferin Grove wading pool renovation. It’s part of a much larger project, for which City Council last year approved $500,000 annually to a total of $5 million over eight years. All of it is new debt. Some older (often well-functioning) wading pools will be replaced with newer ones, for $200,000 or more. Some will just have their service vaults redone, where the plumbing is, for $135,000. Some will get re-sodding and new signage, for $55,000 per location. Nearby wading pools coming up as part of this project are Christie Pits, Bellevue, and Grange pools in 2008, Dovercourt pool in 2009, and Masaryk-Cowan in 2010. All of those pools are in good condition, needing shade more than anything else (but there is no mention of tree-planting or other shade measures anywhere in the wading pool project). Inexplicably, Harbord wading pool, which was leaking lots of water last summer, is not on the renovation list.
Project Supervision: The lead for the wading pool project is the same manager who supervised the replacement of most of the older park playgrounds (2000 to 2004) with newer ones. The total price tag is also similar. In the case of playground replacement, many playground users are unhappy about what they see as the “dumbing down” of playgrounds resulting from that project. There was also a painful lesson learned about “new” versus “old” – the new play equipment, using a great deal of plastic, seemed to carry less interest for the kids and to be less durable than what was there before it was destroyed by the bulldozers.
Financing: the big picture is that the City takes a percentage of the capital funds allocated per project to help meet their payroll for planners and project managers. Small projects – say, repairing a field house roof, or paving a park path – are associated with a low percentage of project fees. Large projects are associated with much higher percentages going to the project staff payroll (sometimes more than 10%). So there is a lot of incentive to promote large-scale designs over simple remedies.
In addition, it’s very hard to track how the money is spent. In the case of the citywide park playground replacement project, CELOS tried to find out how the money was allocated to individual playgrounds, without success. An attempt to go through freedom of information led to an appeal to the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. The City sent two lawyers and three staff, including the project manager, to argue that they could not account for the individual playground costs because the records didn’t exist. They won the appeal – if the records are not there, no information request can supply them. It may turn out to be just as hard to discover how re-sodding and a new sign add up to $55,000 at a wading pool.
Environmental impact: A wading pool is one of the simpler things in the city’s parks – basically a sloped concrete basin with a waterpipe and a drain. The older park wading pools have very thick cement – reportedly up to four feet in some places. Apparently the same Italian construction workers who built the sidewalks, built the wading pools, to last.
Perhaps the thickness is one reason why these pools have stood up so well – there are only a handful of cracks in the Dufferin Grove wading pool, compared with the hundreds of long cracks in the much thinner concrete of the newer skating rink surface.
The small fix: The long straight fissures in the pool are actually expansion joints, plugged with asphalt filler each year so they don’t leak. About five years ago, the city began using a newer material that sealed the expansion joints permanently, for about $5000 a pool. Parks worker Jim Craik, who drives the zamboni at the rink in the wintertime, is a Parks construction foreman in the summer, and he showed us how well the new material works as a seal. It holds from season to season, and it means that the enormous amount of concrete in the pools can stay put, rather than being torn out and replaced with a new batch of concrete.
The joy of new design: Capital projects staff says: even if the old concrete for the kids’ splash-water is holding just fine, the new pools planned for city parks will be smoother, prettier, a nicer design.
Cement: There’s lots of news in the media about the environmental effects of construction materials. Cement is near the top of the worry-list. To make Portland cement, limestone and clay are burned together at 2700 degrees Fahrenheit [not a typo!] until they fuse. “Cement is one of the most environmentally hazardous materials in the world, adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the entire weight of the global airline industry,” wrote The Guardian on May 11 2006. That doesn’t mean we can quit using this extremely useful substance tomorrow. It means, as a local architect (Yves Bonnardeaux) wrote to the neighborhood e-list last year, “in general, if maintenance including plumbing rejuvenation is possible without a wholesale removal of the concrete wading pool installation, that would be my preference. As they say: "it’s better to maintain than to repair, better to repair than to replace.”
The good news: Like so many City capital projects, the Dufferin Grove wading pool project was presented with an urgent timeline. Parks staff said that if playground users didn’t approve the project right away, it would fall to the back of the queue, with other parks moving ahead. And so a public meeting approved the tearing up of the existing wading pool, to be followed by the pouring of a great deal of cement for a new one.
But then a City forester came to the park to do an evaluation of how the trees would fare. He wrote in his report that the big old shade trees around the pool might not survive the big bulldozers necessary to remove all that concrete. That changed the whole picture. When Councillor Giambrone canvassed park users, many people declared for shade. The architect was sent back to the drawing board. The result was better, as we know: the concrete will stay in place, to be covered by a thin layer of new material on top. This is good news not only for Dufferin Grove, but possibly also for the rest of this massive project. If it works well here, the City may apply the technique more generally, and there will be far less waste.
From the March 2008 Newsletter:
Wading pool rebuild
Good news -- the City has dropped its plan to schedule the wading pool “face-lift” for this spring. The planned completion date of June 20 would most likely have caused the wading pool to be closed for part of the summer. (No reno ever finishes on time, look at the swimming pool at Wallace-Emerson!) Now Councillor Adam Giambrone has sent word that the construction date has been set back until September. So hopefully the wading pool will be as lively and enjoyable as it has been on all the other summers.
Copies of the wading pool face-lift blueprints are posted on the main bulletin board inside the rink house. Park users who know how to read blueprints: please share your knowledge with your neighbours, so that everyone knows what’s coming. The wading pool reconstruction is part of a citywide project to replace older wading pools, most of them still working fine, with newer ones. Unfortunately, the project is financed by new debt. At least it would be good to make sure that the new debt is spent wisely.
Councillor Giambrone also says there’s a suggestion to remove the existing playground equipment and replace it with the standard plastic playground equipment found in most other parks. Playground users, do you or your kids want to keep the existing equipment or trade it for something newer? This summer, let the playground staff know your thoughts on this. The staff will pass the ideas along to Tino DeCastro, recreation supervisor.
The schedule for the pool reconstruction
February 1, 2008
From: Peter Leiss
Parks Supervisor Toronto East York
To: Jutta, Gary and Tino
High Priority
The schedule for the pool reconstruction is as follows:
Contractor site visits will occur early in February starting on the 4th with a mandatory site visit on the 18th
Tender will close March 4.
The contract should awarded in March
Work should commence in April weather permitting
The work will be scheduled to be completed by June 20th.
Final Drawings are attached.
If you require further information please contact me.