Big problems at tiny Toronto park prompt calls for locked gates at night

Michael Smee · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 31

Annex residents look to beryllium connected the verge of triumph successful their combat with metropolis staff, who person insisted connected leaving a tiny neighbourhood parkland unfastened astatine night, despite regular vandalism, nationalist urination and violence.

The statement has focused attraction connected the city's broad argumentation of leaving each nationalist parks un-gated astatine nighttime — a argumentation that immoderate accidental is excessively rigid and tin pb to costly vandalism.

Paul Martel Park, connected Madison Avenue successful the Bloor and Spadina area, has been transformed implicit the people of the past 5 years into a botanical plot that features autochthonal vegetation, arsenic good arsenic plants ineffable to the section Indigenous population, similar sage, baccy and sweetgrass.

The problem, according to Paul Richard, an Indigenous erstwhile City of Toronto gardener who has spearheaded the park's revitalization since 2020, is metropolis staff's refusal to gross and fastener the parkland astatine night.

"It's time, aft each our work, for the metropolis to locomotion its speech connected their enactment for the project," helium said.

The section councillor, Dianne Saxe, introduced a question astatine assembly connected Thursday demanding that, successful the lawsuit of Martel Park, unit acceptable speech its argumentation of leaving each parks un-gated and unfastened to the public 24/7.

"The occupation is close adjacent doorway there's a pub and conscionable down the thoroughfare determination are frats, and twelvemonth aft twelvemonth the delicate autochthonal medicinal plants person been tromped connected and urinated connected by the drunks and the frat boys," Saxe told CBC Toronto. "Grass tin enactment up with it to a definite extent, but fragile autochthonal plants cannot."

Saxe's question passed Thursday, meaning unit indispensable present guarantee that parkland is secured betwixt 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. No timeline is fixed that lays retired erstwhile the alteration volition beryllium successful place.

The park's problems began soon aft the decease of its namesake, Paul Martel, successful 2020. Martel had helped regenerate the tiny spot of greenish space, and aft helium died, upkeep passed to Paul Richard's Earth Helpers group, arsenic good arsenic volunteers from the Annex Residents' Association.

Under Richard's guidance, the parkland was planted with flora autochthonal to the area: prairie grasses, wetland vegetation, meadow flowers and shaded woodland plants. Paths person been built that intersect the ungraded beds boxed successful woody vessel hulls. Colourfully painted benches and Muskoka chairs were added, and a peculiar country astatine the rear of the parkland has been acceptable speech for Indigenous ceremonies.

But aft each the work, wealth and time, section residents accidental demolition successful the parkland is commonplace.

"It's truly heartbreaking, and rather frankly it's truly not fair," said Rita Bilerman, seat of the residents' association. "There's breached glass, determination are needles ... That's not OK."

Saxe said she's been trying for 2 years to person metropolis unit to unafraid the parkland astatine night. And portion they agreed to erect a debased obstruction crossed the park's sidewalk frontage and installed impermanent washrooms past summer, they refused to enactment gates crossed the park's 2 entrances.

"Their effect is that parks ought to beryllium unfastened to each radical astatine each times, nary substance however severely damaged they get," she said.

City unit told CBC Toronto successful an emailed connection nationalist parks request to beryllium near open.

"Parks and greenspaces are intended to beryllium unfastened and accessible for nationalist use," city unit said successful the email. "As such, the City typically does not fastener parks."

Richard argues nevertheless that Martel is much than conscionable a park. He says that successful his vocation arsenic a metropolis gardener, and aft travelling to gardens astir North America, "I've ne'er encountered a botanical plot that isn't gated astatine night."

He points to Edwards Gardens, astatine Leslie and Lawrence avenues successful North York, a metropolis botanical plot closed and gated betwixt 8:30 p.m. and 10 a.m. 

According to documents from the city's tourism department, Martel Park has been labeled a botanical plot since 2022.

Saxe emphasizes that she's not asking unit to driblet its blanket, always-open argumentation for metropolis parks.

She says it makes consciousness for astir nationalist parks to beryllium accessible to all, adjacent though "the magnitude of vandalism we person successful nationalist spaces is conscionable horrifying."

It's up to idiosyncratic communities to determine whether their parks necessitate peculiar information astatine night, Saxe said, and to lobby the metropolis done their councillor.

"I can't beryllium definite that radical won't termination each different if we person gates," she said, "but astatine slightest the gates volition support the worst harm and attacks retired of the parkland overnight, which is each I tin do."