How can we boost use of our parks and trails?

[nassauone]

Glad you have a sense of humour Esplanade!

If you really want to see Toronto's parks in their hayday check out the TO archives. THere are some amazing images of the parks loaded ith people.

I believe the parks are being used by an abundance of people but what I do think is happening is a change in the way the family unit and society as a whole works. Entertainment rules the day and unless Avril or Blink 182 are playing at a park fewer and fewer teens and young families will be seen there. Shopping or the latest blockbuster trump family picnics anyday. This is unfortunate though I cannot claim innocence myself.

 

[Suicidal Gingerbread Man]

Obviously the man is very insightful and intelligent, as I agree with a lot that he says. Like myself, he may not be anal about spelling and grammar, but you have to give the guy credit, he seems to care about Toronto and that beats apathy anyday. So few people in this town actually care about the city, if they have nothing financially to gain from it. Toronto need more people like Minetoronto and myself.

Holy crap. Esplanade is miketoronto.

 

[building babel]

So that's where he went!

... but who is inhabiting miketoronto's old identity?

 

[billonlogan]

deliberate byproduct of the last generation's tendency toward park "naturalization"...

Actually, "naturalization" has encouraged teenagers to visit local parks. They provide just enough privacy to smoke dope and drink beer. and lets not even talk about whats going on in the "naturalization" area of Riverdale Park just west of the pool.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

If you really want to see Toronto's parks in their hayday check out the TO archives. THere are some amazing images of the parks loaded ith people.

That was probably before the time when Florida vacations were available to all besides the rich. People used to have to use parks in the city because they didn't have easy or cheap access to ones outside the city. And in the days before TV, the internet, video games, Sunday shopping, air conditioning etc what else would one do on a Sunday?

 

[nstuch]

by shabby and neglected i was referring not to a "naturalized" landscape but to things like old worn out benches and pcinic tables, unmown grass, dandelions, cracked and broken pavement and sidewalks, old worn out signs etc. but then again, that describes the state of the entire city, not just it's parks!

 

[miketoronto]

I think we should be educating people more on our natural spaces and maybe would use them more. Its just amazing all the nature areas we have right in this city and only a minority of people use them.

 

[adma]

Or maybe, to reverse the logic, the plethora of nature areas is part of the problem, not part of the solution? That is, if we had fewer of them, they'd be individually more intensively used...

 

[nassauone]

... but who is inhabiting miketoronto's old identity?

Mikescarb is!!!

 

[Ed007Toronto]

Toronto on the path to a Parks Renaissance

TORONTO, May 5 /CNW/ - Yesterday, at the meeting of the Economic
Development and Parks Committee, staff from Toronto Parks, Forestry and
Recreation presented an update on the development of the Division's "Parks
Renaissance Strategy."
The Parks Renaissance Strategy is being undertaken in order to move
forward the goals and targets of "Our Common Grounds," the 15-year action plan
that sets the direction for the delivery of Parks, Forestry and Recreation
services to residents of Toronto.
The Parks Renaissance Strategy is a reinvestment program that will align
the City's parks, trails and physical assets with the social, economic and
cultural needs of residents. The Strategy will serve as a framework for
decision-making and investment. It will include a set of guiding principles
for improving parks, trails and facilities to achieve targets and goals, and
respond to diverse and changing populations.
"We know our parks and trails are valued by residents," said Brenda
Librecz, General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation. "The Parks
Renaissance Strategy is a critical component to ensuring the future of these
significant community assets. It will help us develop strategic priorities so
we can better utilize existing resources, and look for new ways to meet the
growing needs of the City's diverse communities."
Development of the plan includes a comprehensive consultation process to
engage residents, stakeholders and partners, Members of Council,
representatives from cultural communities, and City staff. Stakeholder
consultations will take place this spring. A broad-based community
consultation process is planned for the fall.
The Parks Renaissance Strategy will build on the work outlined in Our
Common Grounds, unanimously passed by Council in July 2004. Our Commons
Grounds lays out 53 recommendations for the future direction of Toronto's
Parks, Recreation and Forestry services, and sets out a number of targets by
which to measure its progress, including:

- increase the tree canopy to cover 30 to 40 per cent of the city's land
area from 17 per cent
- ensure that 80 per cent of parks users are very satisfied with the
quality of park visits
- increase the number of youth in Parks, Forestry and Recreation
programs by 40 per cent
- increase by 20 per cent the physical activity level of Torontonians.

For more information on the Parks Renaissance Strategy, visit
www.toronto.ca/parks.

Visit our website at www.toronto.ca

 

[shawnmicallef]

A minority of Torontonians probably always used the parks. THe pictures of parks in, i dunno, the 1920s, when they're full up were probably taken on special occasions or big celebrations.

Our parks were "poor man's Muskoka's"....and still are, and it's funny you keep using the word minority because it's minority's that largely use them now....New Canadians. Go to Sunnybrook, Taylor Creek, Sunnyside, Bluffers Park on a summer weekend, and it's full of families of various shades having huge picnics and cricket games.

I'm impressed at how much Toronto parks are used -- this doesn't happen as much in, say, Windsor, where people, even the poor(er), have backyards, as it's not as vertical a city.

And go to Hanlan's point on a saturday or sunday in the summer -- it's as packed as a Spring Break beach.