DSC
Superstar
Member Bio
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
- Messages
- 19,439
- Reaction score
- 27,559
- Location
- St Lawrence Market Area
In 1857 the government of Canada West established a Trust, the Walks and Gardens Trust, to collect and spend the income from the sale or lease of land reclaimed from Lake Ontario when the railways were given permission to bring rail lines into the area now occupied by Union Station. Until 1916 the Trust was active and used the proceeds of land sales and leases to improve parks in many areas of the City including High Park and Allen Gardens.
In 1916 the City changed how it financed parks and the Trust became dormant but Trusts never die unless 'killed off" and the Walks and Gardens Trust is thus still alive. Now the City are intending to ask the Provincial government to disolve it and ensure that the City is not liable for not operating it since 1916.
This has all happened because, with the work currently going on with Union Station, it is possible that citizens could demand that any 'profit' from the new station should go into the Trust (not general City revenues). I do not have an opinion on who is right, the City or the citizen group who reopened the issue but it's an interesting question. (Both the City and the citizen group recommend the Trust should be dissolved, they differ on whether the City should create a new 'endowment fund' to support the aims of the Trust; the City officials say "no", the citizen group says "yes".)
See
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.GM11.6
and
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-45101.pdf
In 1916 the City changed how it financed parks and the Trust became dormant but Trusts never die unless 'killed off" and the Walks and Gardens Trust is thus still alive. Now the City are intending to ask the Provincial government to disolve it and ensure that the City is not liable for not operating it since 1916.
This has all happened because, with the work currently going on with Union Station, it is possible that citizens could demand that any 'profit' from the new station should go into the Trust (not general City revenues). I do not have an opinion on who is right, the City or the citizen group who reopened the issue but it's an interesting question. (Both the City and the citizen group recommend the Trust should be dissolved, they differ on whether the City should create a new 'endowment fund' to support the aims of the Trust; the City officials say "no", the citizen group says "yes".)
See
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.GM11.6
and
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-45101.pdf