SAVE Riverdale Park

[Stacy]

please print and circulate to your neighbours for signature and send to Paula Fletcher. This process ( lack of) is unbelievable. Join us for the "play-in" on May 23 at 10am.

Dear Paula Fletcher,
As our municipal representative, we are asking you to immediately stop the plans to
relocate the St. Matthews Lawn Bowling Clubhouse to the green space in Riverdale
Park East, at Broadview and Langley Avenues.

This green space is of vital importance to our community. We are fundamentally
against the city's decision to impinge on this natural area. We do not want our green
space to be encroached upon by the clubhouse.
In the exact footprint of where the clubhouse is slated to be moved, every day
children play, people practice tai chi and hospital residents and those of us who live
nearby enjoy a taste of nature. The green space enhances our quality of life. The
green space offers the community ecological goods and services by cleaning the air
and provides us with a respite from the built environment of the city.
In the original plans for the redevelopment of the hospital, the clubhouse was not
supposed to be moved to this location. The decision to put the clubhouse in Riverdale
Park East has been made without any public consultation. So we are now telling
you that the community thinks this is a bad idea. We don't want a building where
there is currently green space. Parkland in the city is finite and needs to be preserved
for posterity. Once a building is placed in a green space, the natural environment is
lost forever.
The Friends of Riverdale Park East is a group that represents the concerns of
residents in your ward. We ask you to listen to your constituents' outrage and act
fast to preserve the park as it is and leave the green space in Riverdale Park East
intact.
Sincerely,

[Antonia Zerbisias]

This is what I got back from Paula Fletcher:

Antonia
Thanks for your email.

I will get the Parks lead to call you regarding some of the issues you are raising. It is my understanding that Tai Chi and Soccer will not be impinged on at all.

The Club House takes up minimal space in an area which cannot be used for athletics.

Here are the stats:
* Club house building including porches = 207 sq. metres or 2,226 sq. feet based on ERA scale architectural drwgs

.* Club house site allowing for stairs, ramps, vehicular lay-by, etc = approx. 345 sq. metres or 3,714 sq. feet.

* Area fenced for archaeology according to ASI plan = 3,078 sq. metres or 33,132 sq. feet.

The fencing is 10 times bigger than the final site. This is due to the archeological dig underway.

There also seems to be a misunderstanding out there that there will be lawn bowling in the park - not so.

Just the Heritage Club House will be moved - the lawn bowling has already been moved to East York.

The Club House will have a future use for the community- currently there are no such facilities in Riverdale Park East.

The service entrance to the park will also be enhanced and upgraded which used as an entrance for walkers, runners, cyclists and dogs and their owners

Nine non-native trees in poor health will be lost but will be replaced by 65 native species healthy trees throughout the park.

I am happy to be able to clarify some of this.

Best regards

Paula
Councillor Paula Fletcher
100 Queen St W. Suite C44
Toronto, ON
M5H 2N2
Office: 416.392.4060
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

[Michael Cayley]

Thanks Antonia for getting Paula's attention on this. I have invite her to join Riverdale Rapids. Cheers, mc

[Antonia Zerbisias]

The Star had a story today:http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/638527

[Michael Cayley]

Thanks again Antonia.

Shucks - It would have been nice of Vanessa to reference Riverdale Rapids in the story.

Maybe next time :)

Please thank her for helping bring attention to this matter for local residents.

Cheers,
Michael

[brian moffatt]

this is riverdale park, not algonquin park.

the green space issue is trumped by the fact that this a city park, not the wilderness, not a ravine. city parks are shaped. and yes, by man, to his design. sometimes parks are created from dumps.

the clubhouse sounds ideal. a symbol of what Riverdale Park - and forget this Riverdale Park East nonsense - was and is: a poor man's gym, an outdoor athletic facility, a family toboggan hill. Would those objecting to the clubhouse have objected to the statue of Sun Yat-Sen. That was, after all, the north end zone of many a tackle football game for neighbourhood kids back in the day when kids were free to bash heads and break arms.

and it is a city park, where all members of the public are invited to play, not just toddlers.

uses? tai chi indoors in winter, yoga, a science/historical school, gateway to the Don, a historical site, a scrabble tournament hub, a public meeting hall, who knows, for use by clubs, or ball players beating retreat from the lower bowl and a summer's sudden storm, or a hot chocolate shack for those on the bunny hills.

it was the site of a refuge. apparently, for use by laggards and idiots. (historical phrase not mine). as an idiot, i look forward to gathering there in fellowship, a salute to the legions of idiots who came before me.

i hope the trees going in are chestnut. native or not. there once sat across the road on Broadview at Langley a legion hall with beautiful grounds, full of chestnut trees. the addition of the clubhouse will be a small reminder of what once was...a place of camraderie, community, and - maybe - card games - but is now gone.

moving the building itself is not ideal, granted. moving it to the tennis courts, even, is not a bad idea, aesthetically and logically.

but for some greater reason, the site at langley seems apt. i can see it there. part of the continuum. and ulitmately an enhancement to a small section of the city with some deep roots and some random variant architecture.

[Dave Taylor]

While a very eloquent reply - the update on situation to date in south riverdale is as follows:

- over 200 homeowners on streets surrounding the park have signed the petition. Those opposed include:
- those with children and without,
- those who enjoy the beauty of the view from this location and those who just like to come and kick around the soccer ball or park their wheel chairs ( this is the only piece of relatively flat land in the park that is not used for organised sports or on a hill),
- those who are concerned that the "element" who hang around outside the don jail will choose to move northward and hang around on the nice new public balcony of the club,
- those who prefer to keep the 200 year old trees versus an old building none of knew existed - and whose future "use" is still wide open. There are no guarantees the clubhouse will be for public use. The Bridgepoint redevelopment plan includes 4 towers of condos right to the side of the club house on Broadview. There have been discussions the club will be used as some sort of medical building (free needle exchange ?)
- and those who are against our public officials changing the rules of the game to suit their purposes. Yes this building was part of the original Bridgepoint redesign - but was to be sitauted on Gerrard. It was only in January that the city indiscriminately and without any notice to the neighbourhood - decided to relocate it in Riverdale Park. The city only sent out a notice to the neighbourhood after we all started emailing Paula Fletcher. Do not believe the propaganda !

While the "play-in" is cancelled tomorrow I urge you all to keep the pressure up. If anything we deserve an open and honest dialogue with the City.

Stacy

[brian moffatt]

stacy,

not sure about the background of who didn't notify who and when not etc. not sure you deserve an open and honest dialogue with the city, but you should demand it.

your concern about losing a flat piece of land where kids can kick around a soccer ball...i'm not so sure i'd have kids kicking ball that close to the road. unless they are that small.. then there is still plenty of flat ground. if the clubhouse is going in where it seems to be going none of the ancient tress will be touched. unless they're dead. or a danger. as as for the view...not sure it won't be enhanced, assuming the porch faces north and east.

the element outside the don jail are there because that is where they smoke. the clubhouse has been beside the don jail for a while and I have never noticed the element hanging on the porch of the club enjoying a bogey waiting for the bail bondsman. i'm not by there often admittedly, but still.

as for a needle clinic, who has been having these discussions?

an interesting point is raised regarding future use. is this a privately-run building in a public park? is there a starbucks going in? i would assume that the building will be run as a parks department building with permitting available, though its quasi-historical status may preclude future heavy-use. but a needle clinic? i don't think so. does the hospital have exclusive use of the building? and i'm not sure what you mean by 4 towers of condos right to the side of the clubhouse? do you have a sketch of that? i can only find vague artist renderings that make the entire project look like the audi dealership on the other side of the Don.

[Dave Taylor]

We have a meeting with Paula this week and one of her aides met with one of my neighbours yesterday.