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Friday, November 25, 2011

NEW REPORT ON TORONTO PARKS FUTURE BY "PARKS PEOPLE" ORGANIZATION

The recently founded Park People organization has produced a document called "Pathways For Parks" in which they presents their ideas for improving our parks without increasing city spending. It's their answer to the question: "What would you do instead of cutting the parks budget?".
Some of the key recommendations include: our parks would be better if they were staffed with a dedicated city worker in each park, had an active local “Friends Of” group and were supported by private donations. 
The report is the result of research and consultations with park advocates across North America as well as the collective experience of park volunteers and experts in the growing Toronto parks movement.

Solutions Highlights:

• shift the City’s maintenance delivery away from “flying squads” to dedicated local park staff;
• re-allocate capital expenditures to address the $261 million backlog in repairs to park and recreation facilities;
• facilitate the development of new park conservancies to share park oversight and invite community and private sector investment;
• allow new healthy local food concessions in parks to attract and keep residents in parks all year while also generating revenue;
• expand inspections and establish benchmarks to ensure consistent quality control across all city parks.

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