What Councillor Bravo can do

Alejandra Bravo is in her first term as city councillor for Ward 9/Davenport. So she’s new in that role. She inherited problems in this ward that existed well before she was elected. Two of those problems were: encampments, and Ward 9 parks and rec staff.

The history of problem #1 – People living in the park long-term

In the summer of 2019, Toni Corrado, then aged 71, moved in beside the cob kitchen, in her wheelchair, with her two dogs. She refused to live any longer at the local Sistering warming station, and so she set up householding under a couple of tarps. She was finally moved into city-owned housing on November 19. By that time there had already been two snowfalls.
Since then, beginning with the lockdowns, there have been some tents in Dufferin Grove more than half the time, and sometimes a lot of tents, including throughout the whole of this winter.

The history of problem #2 – Parks and rec programming and maintenance in Ward 9 parks, with a focus on Dufferin Grove

Ward 9 parks were in trouble from 2010 on, when city staff began their pushback against community involvement. In 2015, the Centre for Local Research into Public Space (Celos) calculated that the cost of running Dufferin Grove – without the former community-city partnership – had increased by 40%, at the same time as the programs and maintenance got worse.

So those two complicated problems were waiting for Alejandra Bravo on her first day as a councillor, along with a lot more. Not her fault, and very far from easy.

Some context: For any first-term city councillor, the learning curve is steep. City staff are not always helpful, and sometimes obstructive. Many new councillors look for mentoring from the more experienced long-term councillors at the start, but that’s also not easy. The old hands are busy in their own wards, and sometimes they’re impatient with the inexperience and idealism of their new colleagues.

So back to City staff. Although they’re paid to help councillors fix problems, in the two recent urgent issues at Dufferin Grove, the staff appear to be doing the opposite.

1. Tents:

As of March 23rd, the park still had 9 or maybe more campers living in a chaos of 20 or more tents and clutter. Although others were housed, people are still out there in the cold. There’s been an increase of new staff positions and outside contracts to deal with this situation. But the chaos didn’t get better despite all the additional money thrown at it. City staff told the councillor to reassure park neighbours that staff were providing “comprehensive…….wrap-around services.” The councillor and her constituents were also told that everyone must abide by the staff’s interpretation of the campers’ human rights as set out by the city’s ombudsman.

But the staff’s guidance to the councillor – of the ombudman’s restrictions on how staff manage the tent sites – is probably wrong.

2. Rec staff behaviour:

After the 2020-2023 public health restrictions were lifted, and the renovated rink building at Dufferin Grove re-opened, city staff said they would revive most of the park’s former programs. But unworkable staffing, almost entirely by teenagers, means that very little has come back.
Recently, that problem came to a head, when two youth staff made up a story that I had assaulted one of them. These two, plus their immediate supervisor, convinced police to ban me from the park staff’s main location (i.e. inside the building).
Parks and Rec management then shunted this problem over to their “workplace harassment” officer. They warned Councillor Bravo that on legal grounds she must not discuss this problem with me or with the constituents who protested – not until Parks and Recreation management gives the councillor the all-clear.

But the staff’s warning to the councillor has no legal basis.

Councillor Bravo, so far, has complied with all the city staff’s instructions. There’s a good reason for that. After an election, one of the first things new city councillors find out is that they must try not to get on the wrong side of city staff, because if they do, staff might be less likely to help the councillor fix problems in the ward. Good advice, in a general way. But later, when councillors become more experienced, they may learn how to push back when the stakes are high.

Now the stakes are high for our councillor. There's a category for that, in a new city risk-numbering system. City staff recently convinced City Council to adopt a program they said is vital for city government, called “Enterprise Risk Management (ERM).” All categories of risk to the city are ranked, with political risk in the highest category (Category 5, Risk table p.11.): “an action or lack of action that results when Adverse/negative view of city (council and staff) is community-wide.”

That’s the risk for Councillor Bravo now. Neighbourhood frustration is high, about the encampments, and also about the behavior of the youth staff, their managers, and the police, toward me.

The way out of the councillor’s dilemma is for her to start working on these problems with her knowledgeable constituents. No professional meeting-arrangers, no round tables or coloured makers or stickies.

The councillor can talk about the tents directly with the park’s neighbours, taking as much time as is needed, and with the campers and their advocates. (Former Ward 9 councillor Ana Bailao did this.)

The councillor can talk about the rink guard incident directly with me, and she can talk to the managers responsible for the missing Dufferin Grove programming. Then she can follow up those conversations by offering guidance to city staff – from the people they work for (citizens).

I hope she does. Some links to what constituents are saying so far are here and here.

Councillor Bravo's response LINK