Correspondence re campers and friends

Use of washer/dryer and kitchen in Dufferin Grove Rink Building

From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 2:05 PM

Subject: washer/dryer and kitchen use by Dufferin Grove tent people

To: <John.Francisco@toronto.ca>, milton.barrera@toronto.ca <milton.barrera@toronto.ca> Cc: Howie Dayton <Howie.Dayton@toronto.ca>, Cathy Vincelli <cathy.vincelli@toronto.ca>, Cheryl MacDonald <Cheryl.MacDonald@toronto.ca>, Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>

Dear Mr.Barrera and Mr.Francisco,

When I asked PFR general manager Howie Dayton who to talk to, about giving tent people access to washing their clothes and cooking meals at the Dufferin Grove Park NW corner building, he gave me your names.

The building has a new washer and dryer, currently not used, and a new well-equipped kitchen currently in very limited use, almost none in the evenings. The building is staffed 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. by part-time rec staff. There is a kids' day camp ending at 4 pm Monday- Friday, plus some children's programming on Saturday daytime and Monday evening.

At this point, tent people can use the washrooms at the building between 9 am and 9 pm, and they can take showers up the street at Wallace-Emerson CRC anytime during adult lane-swim times. Staff there say that's been working well.

I write a monthly park newsletter (started Sept. 2000) and am now assembling the August edition. I will try to call you tomorrow to see how this (washer/dryer, cooking) can be made to happen, or why it can't. As far as I can see, the recent city staff report on encampments means that hygiene and cheap food would be part of the "outreach and support model" -- supporting people who want to take steps toward taking care of themselves.

I've been asking park users/neighbours the question (washer/dryer, cooking) for about two weeks, and have been getting some very interesting answers.

This will make an absorbing story for the August newsletter.

Looking forward to a conversation,

Jutta Mason

Media Relations Jul 25, 2024, 1:19 PM (3 days ago)

to me, Howie, Cathy, Cheryl, Councillor, John, Milton

Hi Jutta, Hope you’re well.

Below you’ll find information in response to your questions about the amenities at Dufferin Grove Park, which were sent to the City of Toronto’s Encampment Office team for your August newsletter. Thank you for reaching out to share those considerations.

You can attribute the information below to myself as a spokesperson for the City of Toronto, as needed.

City of Toronto staff have assessed the amenities you mentioned at Dufferin Grove Park and determined it's not possible to offer them for public use.

The building in question is programmed throughout the year, with many recreation programs operating daily. The facility itself does not have the capacity or provisions to offer the added services you noted in addition to the current demands without affecting the ability to continue to program for the broader community.

Dufferin Grove Park will continue to make facilities available to people using the park including phone charging stations, rest areas, water fountain usage, and bathrooms. City staff are also working to add a portable toilet to the park to ensure overnight access to washrooms.

In addition, the Wallace Emerson Community Centre will continue to be available for patrons that wish to use the shower facilities.

The City is committed to continuing to support people living in encampments by referring them into shelter spaces, and connecting them to services that meet their needs as they work towards permanent housing.

Drop-in centres, respite sites and other shelter system facilities offer showers, washrooms, laundry and other services. Homelessness and the factors that contribute to it are complex – the City remains focused on evolving its approach to better meet these challenges.”

If you have newsletter needs in the future, feel free to reach out directly to media@toronto.ca and we’re happy to assist.

Best, Elise von Scheel Senior Communications Advisor, Media Relations & Issues Management Strategic Public & Employee Communications City of Toronto Elise.vonScheel@toronto.ca | 416-392-0641

Clay and Paper listserv posts

Hello Dufferin Grove Park friends and supporters

June 21, 2024, letter from David Anderson

Hello Dufferin Grove friends and supporters,

I’m writing to you about our urgent, current Clay and Paper Theatre safety concerns and the ongoing dangerous situation we continue to find ourselves in at our DGP field house work space, despite our repeated calls to park authorities for some preventative actions before our season even began. This is not new for us. As you may all recall last year Tamara and I were personally threatened by certain men who are part of the gang of drinking men that hang out all day in DGP. These same bullies were also very free with sharing their racist and homophobic remarks last year, targeting our staff. This was all unprovoked and while we were simply going about our own business, building and rehearsing. As theatre makers in public space, as employers and especially as Canada Summer Job employers, this is wholly and utterly unacceptable.

Clay and Paper Theater, as many of you are aware, celebrates our 30th year as the resident theatre company in DGP. We operate on a yearly lease from the parks department for the three rooms on the east side of the Field House. (Though some of our giant puppets and supplies are also in the new storage area beside the Zamboni garage.) We would normally take up residency near the end of May, but I went to Toronto Western for day surgery on May 27, but complications developed so I have been convalescing at home since June 8. I have a few more weeks before I'll be present in the park. My co-artistic director, Tamara Romanchuk, has stepped in to take the load by managing all of our summer programming and employees.

This means that Tamara often finds herself alone at the Field House these days, prepping the space for our summer company that begins work on Tuesday, June 25th. But here's the rub: in our late arrival a group of mostly middle aged men (this same group of bullies) who we have encountered for years have moved into our leased space, arriving late midmorning, and starting to drink. By mid-afternoon they are incredibly drunk and loud, playing music from their power electric motorcycles, becoming more abusive, bullying and dismissive of Tamara’s presence. (Also, as someone with asthma, she has repeatedly asked them to not smoke within 9 metres of the building, as per the bylaw, to no avail.) As a woman, working alone, she does not feel safe having to deal with a group of 15 or so drunken men. Her polite requests for them to move their activities are ignored and roundly dismissed with an f*** you! She cannot be put in this position day after day. It is not unacceptable. When Tamara left the park yesterday after organising and leading a summer solstice parade for the Dufferin Grove Farmers Market, the drunken gang of men had swelled to twenty, they were ensconced under the field house with two picnic tables, blasting music and having a grand old time, while parents attending their kids’ soccer game sat well away from them and in the rain.

This is our legitimate work space and it has been for over 30 years! As we bring our summer employees to the park, Tamara simply cannot have this continuous confrontation happening. It is nerve racking, anxiety provoking and simply, dangerous. It's like having a frightening group of bullies on your porch. Or in your office.

And here's an irony: I am 83 yrs old, and only 6 weeks ago I was honoured at the Toronto Arts Council and Foundation’s Mayor's Award Luncheon as one of three finalists for the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award.

I wonder what would happen if this group of bullies set up at the entrance to the Dream in High Park? Would that be ok?

Equally important to know is that this group of recalcitrant drunken men also set themselves up right at the entrance to the men's washroom on the south end of our space, and we see parents with their children take a wide circle to the women's washroom on the north end just to avoid the men's washroom for fear of running the gauntlet. And Clay and Paper Theatre male identifying staff have walked all the way to the Dufferin Mall to use the washroom facilities there rather than deal with the men. (Note: This was throughout the clubhouse reno.)

We will now again have to turn to local Community Policing bicycle staff to make our space safe for our summer staff. We cannot have this continue.

Lastly, we turn to you, DGP community, for some assistance. In the past, Parks staff, specifically Parks supervisor Lennox Morgan (now retired) and even our last supervisor, Jonathan Larkin, made attempts to help us by moving the picnic tables that the drinking men would set up and dominate at the field house. These park supervisors would get staff to move the tables every morning for a couple of weeks. At some point, park staff also locked up the picnic tables, for a short period of time, to make it more difficult for the gang of men to congregate and dominate our Clay and Paper Theatre work space. This helped. They got the message. They moved on and found another spot in the park.

The current parks department staff seem to be unable to take the picnic tables away, so I am making a request for an intervention by our DGP community to move the tables from around the field house when you see them there. We need your assistance in keeping our Clay and Paper Theatre work space safe and conducive to a healthy learning environment for our emerging and community engaged artists.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.

June 21, 2024, letter from Tamara Romanchuck

Unfortunately, I have some further additions to David’s email, regarding another incident that happened today to me at the field house.

This afternoon, on my own, I stopped by the DGP field house to pickup some supplies for a Clay and Paper Theatre performance tomorrow at the World Refugee Day concert. I had an upsetting experience with the drunken gang present there today that rattled me. It was a clear attempt to intimidate and frighten me.write

When I arrived around 3:30pm, 8 men were under the field house overhang drinking at 2 picnic tables that they had dragged there yesterday afternoon. I explained that I needed to work and that the tables and they needed to move please. One of the men was particularly drunk and has always been ssumption increaseone of the angrier and meaner ones to C&P. He complained and was angry but a couple of the other guys said, come on let’s movethe tables.

Was I then made the ‘mistake’ of kicking their garbage bag from the workshop door that I was about to unlock. The angry guy got angrier at me, telling me I was the rude one for doing that.

They moved the tables only to the side of the building (south side, only a few metres away from our C&P workspace & in front of the entran ce to the men’s washroom). So the picnic table was right beside the workshop window where I could see them and they could still see me. They then proceeded to speak loudly about when is it an okay time to beat up a woman. This felt clearly for my benefit. , so do.

At that time I turned back to the door of the workshop when I noticed a knife on the floor just inside the threshold. I don’t know if it was already there when I opened the door or if it was placed there when I had my backed turned. Whichever the case my sense of danger increased, I kicked the knife further inside the workshop and I locked up and left, heading to the clubhouse to report the incident to the DGP Rec supervisor and assistant.

As David stated in his earlier email, I have definitely not been feeling safe this last week working onsite in our C&P workspace. I now feel even less so. And this coming Tuesday, 5 Canada Summer Jobs student begin 10 weeks of work and training with us. This has been our worksite for over 30 yrs. We have NO alternative space due to funding cuts.

Something clearly needs to be done asap to clear these men completely away from the field house and we have requested Staff Sargent Bernardo at 52 Division to have bike patrol officers move the men away as they have done over the last couple of summers. Once the men move themselves to the west side of the park, C&P is able to continue to work with some sense of safety again. Until that time, I am extremely fearful of even approaching our workspace. I just can’t believe we have to go through this every year now.

I will add, I think the Park bares responsibility here. We’ve asked (over a month ago) for some simple preventative measures - moving the picnic tables - but the seriousness of the matter is not sinking in. With constant park and city staff changes we, as a professional theatre company, have had to continue to explain ourselves (& what we do & our credentials) over and over and over again these last four years. It’s exhausting and frankly disrespectful on the part of the city. Does NO ONE in park services keep a file on us???

We have also been working in public space for over 30 years. We have supported and worked with many houseless and distressed folks, sharing our resources with them wherever we can - power to recharge phones, keeping knapsacks of toiletries to share with our houseless neighbours, sharing food and Gatorade to folk we see in distress. But this situation we are talking about now at the field house is NOT those situations. The gang of men/bullies has consistently challenged C&P’s presence over the years, with their hostile attitudes clearly escalating since the pandemic. So when we tell city staff that we feel unsafe and in danger, we are unsafe and in danger.

June 28, 2024, Letter from Carol Kidd ("Mama Carol"):

Hi David and Tamara, I am personally acquainted with the group of men who gather in the park, and although I don’t drink, I am well aware that as their alcohol consumption increases, so does the level of noise, the volume of music, and the use of profanity. I usually meet with them in the late afternoon or evening, but by their level of intoxication, it is easy to determine who has been hanging out all day drinking. The other night, by the time I arrived, the group was so loud that I decided to leave, as experience has shown that as the guys try to out-shout each other, the conversation gets more heated and, invariably, fights start to break out. When I am there the Portuguese guys in particular tend to behave better as they respect me as an older woman - reminding quite a few of them of their grandmothers, apparently(!!). A number of the other guys can be reined in to a certain extent, but there are a few who regard themselves as the “Cock of the Walk” and are, in their minds, above reproach. I can guess who behaved the most distastefully toward Tamara, and yet I know that if they directed that behaviour toward me, I could rely on the other guys to put them in line.

When the brothers of Jaime, Manny and Gino, organized the memorial for him the other week and you very kindly agreed to allow them to use the Field House so that their older relatives in particular could get out of the sun, Manny advised the guests that no violence would be tolerated. True to his word, when a fight did break out, the guy involved was immediately removed from the party. The Portuguese guys are particularly defensive of their family and, unfortunately in some cases, also defensive of their community - the “you fight me, you fight my gang” mentality. But that Saturday the guy evicted from the party discovered that his lifetime associates from the neighbourhood would not disrespect Jaime’s memory, and subsequently he was ousted.

I have spoken to a number of the guys to encourage them to return to the west side of the park as they did last summer, and emphasized that if they continue to occupy your space and behave in a threatening manner, as well as undermine the enjoyment of the park by others, including those on the west side, they could very well find themselves without a home in Dufferin Grove Park, even though many of them believe that since they have grown up in the area, it is “their” park. But I have lived here for almost 44 years and I for one, although perhaps more tolerant of them than other park users, do not wish to spoil my enjoyment of the Park because of the antics of some drunken idiots. I do not condone their excessive drinking, especially when it encourages other people to join the party. Newcomers who impose themselves on the group are sometimes the ones who light the fire to a fight. It is as if they provoke fights by initiating some sort of drama into the group. For example, there are certain individuals who absolutely should not be engaged in a discussion of US politics. The evening can instantly devolve into a screaming match, with two people arguing - ie uttering obscenities a t each oyher

The men I spoke with, Tamara, were upset at the news that you were personally threatened. I am deeply disturbed by this incident, and others in the past when you were both made to feel unwelcome and particularly, unsafe. I advised the guys that I empathize greatly with you, as many years ago, I hesitated to walk through the park in the evenings as I felt very vulnerable, both as a woman as well as being a “transplant’” from North York. It was only when I got to know some of the regular park users that I could relax, as I was reassured that if I was ever frightened or felt threatened I could call on the “Old Boys’ Club, or as the “Guardians of the Grove”, as they perceive themselves to be. That being said, Tamara, and David, I am quite sure that many of them would come to your assistance if ever they were called upon. But we are nevertheless still plagued with the presence of the guys who, when they drink, cannot control their tempers, their language or even at times their fists.

i know that the guys are now thankfully gathering away from the Field House after a number of people spoke to them. I continue to advise others so that everyone is equally aware that the atrocious threat that was made against Tamara is reason enough to keep the area clear, let alone the drunken behaviour and swearing. Although a number lof the regulars find it difficult to accept that it happened, or feel that “none of their friends would do that”, I have emphasized that it doesn’t matter who said what, everyone is responsible for policing the crowd, like Manny did, to ensure that.threats and violence are not tolerated. By speaking with some of the “leaders”and enlisting their support, we can hopefully avoid any reprehensible conduct in the way you experienced. They know that the Field House is not a space open for their use. I have already spoken to some of the fellows, the “leaders”, for lack of a better term, who have the respect of others, and I have enlisted their support in keeping everyone away from gathering by the Field House. If it’s a rainy night and they can gather under the roof to get out of the rain, provided they have your support, they have agreed to return the space to the condition in which they find, ie removal of any picnic tables they may have moved over. We may have to work on the latter, but I will impress upon them the need to have the space ready for your use, if that is agreeable with you. And I will continue to read the riot act to anyone else threatening the continued presence of the group in the park simply as a result of their own inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour. But I repeat, the fellows with whom I have spoken feel terrible that you felt unsafe because of someone’s threat to you, Tamara, and have stated to me that it will not be tolerated - I hope I can rely on that.

However, I do personally find it unfair to know that the campers in the park can apparently remain in Dufferin Grove despite the signs posted advising there is no camping allowed after a certain hour, yet they remain undisturbed. At present, the group does not want to move to the west side of the park as they did last year because they feel there are too many campers already in that area. Furthermore, there should be a couple of picnic table for the guys to move, so they can sit together. My personal gripe is that the campers have commandeered a picnic table and the park bench overlooking the best place to watch the sunset. Yet often the guys would invoke trouble if they grouped a couple of tables together: the next day they would find the tables they had been using moved elsewhere and locked to a tree. But tables are often moved by other people gathering for a picnic or a campfire needing to accommodate a large group, so it is unfair to impose a double-standard on the Old Boys Club. On the other hand, they do not have free rein to engage in disorderly conduct wherever they group, and that I will continue to impress upon them.

What other members of our community fail to recognize is that most of the guys are on a disability income, having worked in the building industry before being injured on the job. They are.not simply drunken bums who have been living off of the government all their lives. One of the guys fell two or three stories off a roof when another worker started to fall and grabbed him. He was badly injured, but the other guy managed to regain his footing, and remained on the roof. Life can be so unfair, as we all know. But the group members cannot be unfair to other park users. Hopefully the situation will continue to improve, and we can all enjoy Dufferin Grove Park.

Carol and Riley on Gladstone Avenue