SAVE OUR CAMPFIRE PIT!

The City has decided to remove our campfire pit due to concerns about un-permitted fires.  Below is my email to the City in response to this decision.  Please take a moment to let the Parks Department know how you feel by sending an email to the Supervisor of Parks for East York and Toronto, Colette Martin,  at cmartin1@toronto.ca and copy Councillor Fletcher at councillor_Fletcher@toronto.ca.

Colette,
I am frustrated and disappointed by this turn of events.

I agree that the illegal fires have been a concern.  I had hoped that we could find a way to address that concern in a way that punished the people who were up to the illegal activities and not the community members who want to put our public space to a positive use.  One suggestion, which I don't believe has been fully explored, would be to put a grate across the top. On Wednesday I had left a voicemail message for Mark Hawkins and I had sent him an email asking that he speak to me about this.  I believe we could arrange for funding or donations to cover the grate as this issue was discussed at a Friends of Withrow Park meeting last week.  We just needed to figure out how to get it done.  My call was never returned and I did not have a response to my email. 

I believe many of the complaints that you received about the fire pit are with respect to the sorrowful state of the campfire pit area over the Thanksgiving long weekend.  For the record, the couch was dumped in the park for over a week before it found its place near the fire pit.  It was at the field house for at least part of this time.  I had assumed, obviously wrongly, that someone from the City would remove this dumped couch which was in plain sight. I can't understand how it was allowed to remain in the park for such a long time, including four days near the campfire pit where it clearly would only invite trouble.  If we want people to respect park rules and park spaces we should show them that we respect the park.  Letting people dump garbage in the park and not removing it does not invite respect.

I left a message earlier today to speak to our Community Liason Officer at 55 Division, P.C. McDonald, to speak about the policing aspect of this issue.  It doesn't seem like the police have become involved in this issue and I expect that a few interventions by the police would put an end to this activity.

It seems to me that the City has chosen the expedient solution but not the one that serves the community.  There is strong support for community campfires in our park.  I have heard many people comment that the fire pit is an attractive addition to our park.  People are not upset by the campfire pit but by the illegal use to which it has been put.  Why don't we address the illegal behaviour?

Also, I am tremendously upset that no one has contacted me.  The members of Friends of Withrow Park are willing to contribute to viable and sensible solutions so I cannot understand why we are cut out of the process.  We all want a safer park that is put to positive use by the community.  I wish we could find a way to reach that result together.  If you simply dismantle the fire pit without any discussion or consultation you are cutting the "community" part out of that equation.