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

Annex residents appear to be on the verge of victory in their fight with city staff, who have insisted on leaving a tiny neighbourhood park open at night, despite regular vandalism, public urination and violence.

The debate has focused attention on the city's blanket policy of leaving all public parks un-gated at night — a policy that some say is too rigid and can lead to costly vandalism.

Paul Martel Park, on Madison Avenue in the Bloor and Spadina area, has been transformed over the course of the last five years into a botanical garden that features native vegetation, as well as plants sacred to the local Indigenous population, like sage, tobacco and sweetgrass.

The problem, according to Paul Richard, an Indigenous former City of Toronto gardener who has spearheaded the park's revitalization since 2020, is city staff's refusal to gate and lock the park at night.

"It's time, after all our work, for the city to walk its talk on their support for the project," he said.

The local councillor, Dianne Saxe, introduced a motion at council on Thursday demanding that, in the case of Martel Park, staff set aside its policy of leaving all parks un-gated and open to the public 24/7.

"The problem is right next door there's a pub and just down the street there are frats, and year after year the sensitive native medicinal plants have been tromped on and urinated on by the drunks and the frat boys," Saxe told CBC Toronto. "Grass can put up with it to a certain extent, but fragile native plants cannot."

Saxe's motion passed Thursday, meaning staff must now ensure that park is secured between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. No timeline is given that lays out when the change will be in place.

The park's problems began shortly after the death of its namesake, Paul Martel, in 2020. Martel had helped regenerate the small patch of green space, and after he died, upkeep passed to Paul Richard's Earth Helpers group, as well as volunteers from the Annex Residents' Association.

Under Richard's guidance, the park was planted with flora native to the area: prairie grasses, wetland vegetation, meadow flowers and shaded woodland plants. Paths have been built that intersect the soil beds boxed in wooden boat hulls. Colourfully painted benches and Muskoka chairs were added, and a special area at the rear of the park has been set aside for Indigenous ceremonies.

But after all the work, money and time, local residents say destruction in the park is commonplace.

"It's really heartbreaking, and quite frankly it's really not fair," said Rita Bilerman, chair of the residents' association. "There's broken glass, there are needles ... That's not OK."

Saxe said she's been trying for two years to convince city staff to secure the park at night. And while they agreed to erect a low fence across the park's sidewalk frontage and installed temporary washrooms last summer, they refused to put gates across the park's two entrances.

"Their response is that parks ought to be open to all people at all times, no matter how badly damaged they get," she said.

City staff told CBC Toronto in an emailed statement public parks need to be left open.

"Parks and greenspaces are intended to be open and accessible for public use," city staff said in the email. "As such, the City typically does not lock parks."

Richard argues however that Martel is more than just a park. He says that in his career as a city gardener, and after travelling to gardens around North America, "I've never encountered a botanical garden that isn't gated at night."

He points to Edwards Gardens, at Leslie and Lawrence avenues in North York, a city botanical garden closed and gated between 8:30 p.m. and 10 a.m. 

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

Saxe emphasizes that she's not asking staff to drop its blanket, always-open policy for city parks.

She says it makes sense for most public parks to be accessible to all, even though "the amount of vandalism we have in public spaces is just horrifying."

It's up to individual communities to decide whether their parks require special security at night, Saxe said, and to lobby the city through their councillor.

"I can't be certain that people won't kill each other if we have gates," she said, "but at least the gates will keep the worst damage and attacks out of the park overnight, which is all I can do."