Centre For Local Research into Public Space (CELOS)
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For the cover page of this folder go to the Recreation director meeting, April 29, 2024: Follow up
Jutta Mason to Cathy Vincelli, April 30, 2024
Subject: Notes from yesterday's meeting at Dufferin Grove park
To: Cathy Vincelli <cathy.vincelli@toronto.ca>, Eric To <Eric.To@toronto.ca>, Jaydee Cornwall <Jaydee.Cornwall@toronto.ca>, Jason Cruickshank <Jason.Cruickshank@toronto.ca>, Andrea Thompson <athomps.m@gmail.com>, Peter (Park) White <Peter.White@toronto.ca>, Cheryl MacDonald <Cheryl.MacDonald@toronto.ca>, Jane Price <bjaneprice@gmail.com>, Sabina Ali <sali@tpwomenscomm.org>
Dear All,
I've attached my recollections of the main points at yesterday's meeting that refer to Dufferin Grove. I have told the community people who sent letters, and some who are still waiting, that I'll send them the followup notes.
If any of you feel like having a read-through, and you have something you want to clarify or add, that would be a help. Note the items in blue will not be in my follow up message, but are there to make sure I understood what Cheryl was trying to say. read more
Jutta Mason meeting notes, April 29, 2024:
Meeting with the Director of Recreation, Cathy Vincelli, requested by CELOS about what we regard as structural problems at Parks, Forestry and Recreation, relating to Dufferin Grove Park and beyond
Present:
PFR Staff: Cathy Vincelli: (Acting) Director of Recreation, City of Toronto Jaydee Cornwall: (Acting) Policy and Project Advisor for Director of Recreation Cheryl MacDonald: Manager, Recreation, West Toronto District Jason Cruickshank: (Acting) Supervisor, Recreation, West Toronto York District Eric To: (Acting) Manager, Aquatics, City of Toronto Andrea Chow: General Supervisor, Parks, West region Peter White: Manager, Parks, Toronto East York
Non-staff: Sabina Ali: Thorncliffe Park Women’s Committee Jane Price: Board member, CELOS Jutta Mason: Researcher, CELOS
Health and Safety demands 2 staff at a time. Staff say they have a lot of violence against the staff since covid.
Staff say that subject to union agreements means you can’t assign PT staff to train CRP how to run the park
Staff say they can't understand what we mean by a “lab” but we must remember that “we are working in a union environment.” So staff can only do what the current collective agreement specifies.
Jason plans a meeting with Vijay and Mayssan on Friday Any problems, go to Jason and he will take it up the line.
Cheryl had a list of what they’ve accomplished so far:\\
- they started the oven program up again for the last two summers
- they opened the building in January so the farmers’ market could be there
- they brought the skate lending back
- they did Park Play and movie nights
- they had staff at the sandpit
- support storage for Clay and Paper
- support skateboarding and bike polo
- support Skylar’s gardening
-
She said they got a lot of appreciation on April 6.
Next steps:
Management says they are rolling out a plan for running the park in the traditional way “Don’t worry.”
There was a four-year break so they can’t bring everything back at once.
They want to bring back more this summer, including Friday Night Supper, pizza days at the smaller oven, and the cob kitchen snack bar.\\
They feel that having the CRP’s office in the building will make everything easier because he will have his eyes on the park.
Re the bake oven: Andrea said that they’re waiting on the insurance company to say if they’ll cover either another temporary fix or a rebuild. If they don’t pay, then Parks will have to go to Capital (i.e. over $50,000, not minor).
Re the “rink clubhouses” proposal: staff say that a business case would have to be made for this, but no staff proposed taking that on. ]
Cathy Vincelli to Jutta Mason, April 30, 2024
Thanks Jutta. We were also creating some notes so will have a look at your document and add any changes for you and the team to review. Appreciate everyone taking the time to meet yesterday. We look forward to getting the park and the new clubhouse back up and running this summer as well as working with your community stakeholders to ensure a collaborative approach to this. We will get back to you as soon as possible with our revisions to your notes.
Cathy to Jutta, May 8, 2024
Again, my apologies for the delay in getting our meeting note revisions back to you. Many thanks to each of you for taking the time to meet with us. You will see we broke it down by area. Have a look and let us know if there are any changes requested.
We are looking forward to getting the park back up and running in the next few weeks as well as collaborating with all interested in contributing to a park that meets community needs.
Management follow-up notes
May 8, 2024: Management meeting notes, from Jaydee Cornwall: (Acting) Policy and Project Advisor for Director of Recreation
Monday April 29, 2024 Dufferin Grove Park 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Attendees:
Jutta Mason (Community Member, Researcher, CELOS) Jane Price (Community Member, Board Member, CELOS) Sabina Ali (Community Member)
Cathy Vincelli – A/Director, Community Recreation Eric To – Manager, Community Recreation – Aquatics Peter White – Manager, Parks Cheryl MacDonald – Manager, Community Recreation Andrea Chow – General Supervisor, Parks Jason Cruickshank – Supervisor, Community Recreation Jaydee Cornwall – A/Policy & Project Advisor – Community Recreation
Dufferin Grove Park Lab
Staff Safety: Due to increase in workplace violence incidents, staff are required to work in pairs to ensure health and safety protocols are met.
Staff Privacy:
To maintain staff privacy, PF&R recommends that members of CELOS do not post private information about staff.
The CRP will engage with PT staff regularly as part of the program planning process.
Any suggestions and/or concerns should be first directed to Adam Tyzler (CRP), and then Community Recreation Supervisor as needed. Community Recreation Supervisor will escalate when required.
Dufferin Grove Park Lab:
Management requested clarity on what was meant by “Dufferin Grove Park Lab”
Community Recreation is currently planning the return of the traditional programming and animation in the park. Historically, spring programming begins after the May long weekend. Programming will include:
Spring 2024 • Bike Polo • Skateboarding • Community Gardening (supported by Skylar & Parks Team) • Pizza Days- schools, camps, community • Ovens Open for Thursday Markets • Vegetable Harvests • Friday Night Suppers (may include support from Market vendor group) • Cob Café & Snack Bar • Adventure Playground support • Movie nights and events • Pop up programming • Outreach to local schools and after school opportunities
Summer 2024 • CampTO program - new • Wading pools operations
Programming at Dufferin Grove Park to date: Over the last several years during COVID-19 Pandemic Response and SOGR, staff worked to provide some programs in the park including:
• Resumption of oven programming • Resumption of farmer’s market • Resumption of skate lending • Parks Play • Movie Nights • Adventure Playground support • Storage & space support for Clay and Paper group • Support of skateboarding and bike polo programming • Support for gardening programming
Many positive comments received during April 6, 2024 soft opening.
Pizza Oven: Andrea Chow (General Supervisor, Parks) is currently waiting for follow up from the insurance company regarding temporary fix or rebuild. If insurance will not cover a rebuild, this will need to go to capital for review.
Next Steps: Dufferin Grove Park staff plan to roll out traditional and other programming starting after the May long weekend.
Examples of programming include Friday night Supper, Pizza Days at the smaller oven, and the cob kitchen snack bar.
CRP will be on site to provide ongoing program and staff supervision.
Rink clubhouse proposal:
City staff suggested a separate meeting with the appropriate staff to review the rink clubhouse proposal. City staff stated that given this would require additional funding, a business case would have to be put forward during the 2025 budget process.
Request to review Thorncliffe Park Bake Oven & Permit Requests To be taken offline and reviewed with Client & Business Services and Parks team.
From Jutta Mason to Cathy Vincelli, May 8, 2024
Hi Cathy,
I have read Jaydee's notes and there are many things that need follow up. Staffing is of course a big issue. So is budgeting.
I believe that your report says questions concerning Dufferin Grove must go through Adam Tyzler, so I'll start that way, with issues concerning DG staffing and costs. To increase the chance of getting timely answers, I'll copy Jason, Cheryl, and you for the first run.
There are several other, larger follow-up questions that we tried to raise on April 29, but that were not addressed in your response. I'll follow up with those in separate emails.
May 9m 2024, rec manager Cheryl MacDonald to Jutta Mason
One point of clarification from my end – Adam is the point of contact for you and the community stakeholders with regard to site specific/programmatic issues at Dufferin Grove. He will escalate issues to the Community Recreation Supervisor or Parks as needed.
I believe your request related to staffing and costing information pertains to your Rink Clubhouse project proposal. As discussed at the meeting and reflected in the notes- another meeting will be required to discuss the proposal further to assess feasibility and support costing work and a potential business case. You also asked about capital review and we would want to have capital present at that meeting as well.
The operational priority now is getting the programming for Dufferin Grove up and running. We can connect in with you regarding a meeting date that would bring in the appropriate staff leads to discuss further in the coming weeks.
May 10, 2024
From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Fri, May 10, 2024 at 9:26 AM Subject: Re: Re: Dufferin Grove Park Meeting Notes To: Cheryl MacDonald <Cheryl.MacDonald@toronto.ca> Cc: Cathy Vincelli <Cathy.Vincelli@toronto.ca>, Jaydee Cornwall <Jaydee.Cornwall@toronto.ca>, Eric To <Eric.To@toronto.ca>, Peter (Park) White <Peter.White@toronto.ca>, Andrea Chow <Andrea.Chow@toronto.ca>, Jason Cruickshank <Jason.Cruickshank@toronto.ca>, Jane Price <bjaneprice@gmail.com>, Sabina Ali <sali@tpwomenscomm.org>, Adam Tyzler <Adam.Tyzler@toronto.ca>
Actually, my reference to budget and staffing concerns do relate to Dufferin Grove Park specifically. Jaydee's report listed both past work and what management is planning for this spring. In the attachment to this email, I've listed the specific budget information we are seeking for two already-completed non-winter periods at Dufferin Grove (for 2022 and 2023). read list
I've added Adam to this thread since the CRP job description includes doing exactly these kinds of expenditure reports, and of course most of the Pcard transactions would have been his or those of his predecessors (Sophia and then Birko). Same with the hiring and scheduling of the PT staff. So I am assuming that pulling up these numbers will be straightforward.
The record of actual past spending, instead of future Rec program estimates, will help to ground discussions of what works at one location (DG), as well as providing a context for how a rink/park clubhouse might function at some other locations. The broader clubhouse issue will be the subject of an email next week.
This whole discussion, with Rec at the centre, has the potential to be a fresh contribution to past practices. Fingers crossed that good will can build on both sides, for it to happen :)
Jutta