Project Description:

(Henrik - July 29, 2009)

Here are notes extracted (and edited slightly) from the Trillium Proposal application:

Relevant excerpts from the Trillium Grant proposal, listing what we will be doing.

Summary:

To use existing published material, four public meetings, and interviews to create an online library cataloguing how laws, regulations and policies influence urban parks and public spaces without walls. The purpose is to increase the law literacy of people who use and work in public space, thus enriching public discussion

Reasons from the proposal as to why the project is important:

The list of groups in B5 that we have recently been working with can give an idea of why we want to build on our research about legislation and regulation affecting public spaces, why we want to make what we learn as broadly available as possible, and why we want to pass stories along between groups. Some examples:

1. Stonegate Health Centre in Etobicoke has funds for building a community bake-oven in a park surrounded by low-income buildings, but can’t get permission. They've been told that the city is conducting internal policy discussions about bake-ovens, but with no definite timetable. Part of the problem appears to be internal confusion about legslation that may or may not apply. CELOS wants to gather stories from all the existing wood-fired community ovens in Toronto (five), as well as of relevant regulations, and produce an online and paper-copy fact-sheet that can help move policy development to a successful conclusion (with park users at the table).

2. New Horizons seniors have been told there are rules against putting a public washroom near their garden. CELOS wants to track those rules, and see if there are ways to make them work for the seniors, and for other park users in similar situations elsewhere in Toronto. Conversely, the seniors themselves built a simple stairway in the park last year to improve safe access to their garden. CELOS wants to document how they did this without setting off alarm bells about the encroachment by-law. Stories like this can inspire other groups about improving their access, and help city staff create a template of constructive community contributions of a non-traditional sort.

3. Front-line outdoor rink staff in parks have recently heard that they will have to turn away school classes arriving to skate at the outdoor rinks unless there is a pre-arranged permit that assigns injury risk to the teacher. CELOS wants to turn this unfortunate situation into an opportunity by broadening public discussion, taking into account more factors than are generally considered when such policies are tried.

4. Thorncliffe Park residents want to build some benches and a community garden in their central playground area, as has already been done in other parks. But the Building Code has had recent revisions that are not well understood in their application to parks, and administrators are worried. CELOS wants to chronicle existing community-built structures in public space and the ways they meshed with regulations.

5. Front-line park workers are anxious that they may be hit with a large personal fine if a park user gets hurt, for example while digging in a community garden. CELOS wants to research and disseminate information on the limitations to such personal liability.

We have a longer list, but the examples here are meant to give a sense of the issues we want to address. The upswing in regulatory restrictions on community activity in parks is unfortunately intensifying at the same time as economic troubles make less money available for municipalities to put more top-down (non-community-run) programs into parks. The silver lining to this cloud is that the motivation for finding the enabling parts of existing laws and regulations is strong and bound to get stronger.

Who will benefit:

We will benefit: volunteers and non-profits which have engaged in initiatives to enliven public spaces, as well as administrators who may not have the time to go into the amount of detail they need to know. We plan to work with all the groups in Section B5, as well as looking out for new contacts who share these interests.

How the proposal conforms with Trillium's grant criteria:

1. Enhanced success for students and learners

CELOS seeks to provide community-based discussion and learning opportunities about how exisiting law and policy shapes and affects the conditions for achievement for volunteers and communities interested in structuring their parks in ways that enhance their communities.

It seeks to improve the law-and-policy literacy of adults and youth, so that they can structure and participate in community projects in parks and public spaces in a way that responds to the experiences and aspirations of their community members.

2. Healthier and more physically active Ontarians

When the blockages to community projects can be removed or transformed, park users can work together to help shape the spaces where they play and meet their neighbours. Both the satisfaction that comes from this and the removal of barriers (barriers such as those discouraging school skating visits, described above) will improve the health and activity of park users.

3. Enhanced employment and economic potential for workers and their families

CELOS has supported (and documented) the initiatives of small-scale food projects which enliven public space and make rinks and parks more welcoming to community members. Such initiatives can also provide interesting employment potential for workers and their families. They can lead to significant skill development for workers while at the same time promoting a greener economy of locally made foods, using materials grown by local farmers. When laws and therefore policies turn out to support community gatherings around food, farmers' markets, and community suppers, the nets of activity and friendship thus created can be a powerful economic aid as well.

4. More effective volunteers and more people engaged in their communities.

By providing careful, detailed information about laws and policies that affect public space, CELOS hopes to enhance the effectiveness of volunteers. This "lay of the land" view -- of how law and policy shape and affect the possibilities for enlivening parks and public spaces -- can help to foster strategic thinking and innovation, and build the capacity for people and groups to engage successfully in the projects they undertake.   

The reasons that we can do this, from the proposal:

CELOS already has a good knowledge base to build on (some law-and-regulations material is posted on our website and discussed in newsletters). We've had some successes to encourage us, in demonstrating that legislation is not only "thou shalt not." We have some good connections with other groups across the city, groups which want solutions as much as we do. Parks are places without walls where these issues can enter public discussion. Our websites are "home libraries" without walls where the information we gather, and the stories swapped back and forth, can be seen and made use of by anyone.

So we think we can provide tools and resources to help communities and non-profits carry out their projects, assisted by a deeper understanding of the framework and effects of the current laws and policies. CELOS wants to help reduce those instances where the creativity, talent and energy of community members and volunteers are dissipated or lost responding to bureaucratic road-blocks, rather than being available for community projects.

CELOS has a long and unusual history of engagement, from the outside, with city staff throughout Toronto's Parks and Recreation Division. In addition it has a ramifying network of "fellow travellers" committed to a lively city, and extensive website resources. All of these can be brought to bear on the current project.