Thorncliffe Park

an early Tandoor oven meeting

From Sabina Ali: Thorncliffe Park Women’s Committee (TPWC) is focused on turning RV Burgess Park into a vibrant gathering place that draws on the strengths and capacities of local residents, provides opportunities for neighbours to meet, share information and celebrate, reduces social isolation and acts as a gateway to nature for residents. This interactive outdoor space is rooted in community ownership and pride and supported by community responsibility for its care and future.

Over the past nine years our volunteer work has enabled:

- arts and fitness programming

- community gardens

- park beautification

- Friday community bazaars with local performances

- park clean-ups

....with over 500 people engaged weekly. Our advocacy resulted in the park getting used playground equipment, a renovated splash pad, water fountain, new swings, benches, bins, lights, picnic tables, power outlets, and the first of its kind, a permanent outdoor tandoor bake oven.

But after all these years of hard work around park animation and the park programs, TPWC does not have core funding. Most of our programs are run by our volunteers including bread baking in Tandoor, park beautification, annual winter carnival, Flemingdon Community market and the recent Pan Am and Parapan Am spectator jam events to name a few.

In 2008, TPWC was awarded $20,000 from Kiwanis Foundation of Toronto for building materials for a children’s Amphitheater in RV Burgess Park. We worked with the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department and our local councillor to do public consultation, prepare blueprints and find funding for the labour costs. The Kiwanis funding expired as it took too long, working with the city, to develop a design and find funding for the labour costs. We were asked to apply again but were not successful the second time. TPWC lost this opportunity of creating a space for the performances in the park.

In the meantime, we continued to do cultural and community building programs in the park, as the need for such programs was growing as Thorncliffe was growing.

In 2011, TPWC began Tandoor oven planning sessions, and a funding application was submitted to the Farmers and Open Air Produce Market. $1500 was raised by TPWC through this grant. The lease agreement that the City developed for the Tandoor oven actually threatened the long-term sustainability of the tandoor program. It took about two years to finalize the lease agreement. The City laid the concrete pad, constructed a steel shed for the Tandoor and covered the license fee of $4,500 that the lease agreement called for (for five years) through its Clean & Beautiful program funds.

TPWC’s Friday bazaars provided a ready platform for the City to host the Pan Am Games spectator jam events in Thorncliffe Park Neighbourhood. This meant saving the city's cost and also the staff time. The Pan Am spectator jam events were in partnership with the City of Toronto – Parks & Recreation and Toronto Library - but TPWC was the only group that worked as volunteers, whereas the others were paid city staff. The City had no money allocated to compensate the additional work for TPWC. That has also been true every year for the winter carnival in the park.

Unpaid work by TPWC:

In-person meetings and email correspondence exchanged with City staff about park events:

2010: Park bazaar/market permit - 35 emails. Toronto Public Health - 15 emails.

There was at that time no available kitchen facility in Thornciffe Park, since the Jenner Jann Marie community centre was closed for construction for years. I contacted Flemingdon Health Centre and worked with them to develop a partnership with them to use their kitchen for the Friday market.

I attended 5 meetings to arrange this. My day on Friday used to start at 11am as I had to pick vendors & take them to Flemingdon Health Centre to use the kitchen there, supervise them & bring them back to the market and continue with the market until 10:30pm at night.

2011: Winter carnival – 6 meetings, Park bazaar permit application 32 emails, Toronto Public Health 12 emails, setting up cooking demonstrations for the vendors 18 emails, arranging for the use of the kitchen 10 emails.

2012: Park bazaar/market permit 30 emails, winter carnival & cooking fire - 17 emails and 6 meetings.

2013: Park market permit 45 emails, Toronto Public Health - 10 emails, Winter carnival & cooking fires - 20 emails. June 19, 2013: I was called to meet with Jim Hart, then general manager, about the bazaar/market. He didn’t attend the meeting but 4 other PFR staff did.

2014: Toronto Public Health 5 emails, Park market permit including movie night permits - 70 emails

2015: Toronto Public Health - 5 emails, Park market permit - 32 emails

I attended 10 meetings for Pan Am events, plus logging 35 email conversations

Tandoor

I counted 125 emails with the City staff

60+ emails with others

10 meetings

Deputation at City Hall for Tandoor Bake oven

park bazaar, Sept. 15, 2009