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Editorial, September 2015: In five years of “harmonizing” Dufferin Grove Park with the rest of the city, the cost of running the park balloons to $750,000 a year. But it’s less fun

In 2010, the long-time recreation supervisor of the Dufferin Grove Park area, Tino Decastro, was removed. At the same time the informal partnership between city staff and CELOS wound down, and an entirely new staffing system was set up. Ten years of experimental collaboration between CELOS and city staff working together – on how to make a lively park – were followed by five years of a different kind of experiment by city management. Now the results of that second experiment are in.

The cost of running Dufferin Grove, since its management was centralized, has ballooned. Freedom of Information requests show an increased cost of almost 40% over four years. In 2014, the most recent city financial report, it appears that the net operating cost was close to $750,000, up from about $550,000 in 2010. read more