May 11, 2025. Week Two: A clear answer

At the April 30 meeting at St.Mary's, lots of people said they want the park programs back. In order to do that we need to find and collaborate with good front-line staff, but it seems that the parks & rec management position is still as far away from partnership as possible.

no more partnerships means no more snack bar

Déjà vu! Because, just over a year ago, on April 11, 2024, a few of us from Celos sent a letter to the recreation director of the time (a different one than now).

It had seven recommendations for restarting the park partnership again, after the four-year lockdown-and-construction shut-down.

But the director said they had the situation in hand, and would start up programs shortly, using their own expertise, no need to resume the former community/city staff partnership.

By the end of 2024, $494,000 had been spent just for recreation staff wages at Dufferin Grove, and there was little to show for it.

Then in January and February, as we know, the wheels fell off, at the rink building.

Now there is a new West Toronto recreation manager and a new Ward 9 recreation supervisor. We’ve been talking in a general way, but I asked for a meeting about specifics, and sent them last year’s partnership letter again, to restart the conversation.

The meeting was by three-way phone call. The manager started off by warning me about the way I had spoken to frontline rec staff the day before. And then, over the 20-minute conversation, the manager and the supervisor made it clear that staffing is their business and “we are not able to speak to the public about staffing information.”

A clear answer -- and a welcome clarity, since I can now stop my work at the park. Freedom! Sadly, the only two frontline rec staff who would have been capable of building the team to restart the programs, are not going to get that work done.

So that’s over at Dufferin Grove. Celos has citywide projects too, and those are more fun. But there are two things at Dufferin Grove that still need following up.

One is the news of the planned replacement of Tracy, the rink building caretaker, with two brand new staff being paid higher wages. After some second thoughts by management, it seems hopeful now that Tracy will be staying in her job, with wages that are more fair.

The other unclear thing is the manager’s objections to my comments to some of the staff. Some of the same staff involved in the winter troubles are still sitting in the building office with little to do, as before. It seems that now when I talk to those staff about what happened in winter, it makes them feel uncomfortable.

No wonder. Hopefully that discomfort will stand the young staff in good stead later. But it looks like whenever staff feel uncomfortable in this way, they can file a "workplace harassment" complaint.

That system needs some follow-up.

I wrote to the manager: “could you please send me a letter of what you feel happened when I spoke to staff on the day(s) before our phone call, and what you feel I should specifically not do?”

I’ll report back. This is an issue elsewhere in the city, with other park friends being told that their comments or objections can trigger a "workplace harassment" notice, as well.

Next week: encampments. The week after: food in parks.