Park yourself

By Sam Reiss

I love a good park as much as the next guy. On a stroll, copping a sit on the grass at lunchtime, kissing on a park bench, reading a book, sketching a tree — whatever your thing, it can only be enhanced by occasionally doing it outside in a pretty spot (within reason of course!).

When I first read a story in The Star last week by Josh Tapper about the publicizing of seemingly private green spaces, my first thought was great! Let’s tell everybody where they are so we can all enjoy them. A happy response to a happy thought — more parks used by more people.

Then I thought it through a little better.

The Star story centres on a courtyard beside One Bedford, an Annex condo by Lanterra. The landscaping at One Bedford was designed by Bruce Corban of Corban and Goode, renowned urban landscape architects. I don’t know if the specific space referred to in the story was Corban-designed, but it gives you a mental picture of the quality of green space we’re talking about here — it’s not going to be a bed of marigolds and a garbage can. This is the southern end of the Annex, lauded as one of Canada’s most erudite neighbourhoods, home to Margaret Atwood for crying out loud. According to the Star, the space accommodates two granite benches, a garden, and a couple of no-smoking signs (which will be worth their weight if just one inconsiderate smoker thinks twice before chucking his non-biodegradable butt on the ground).

In any case, One Bedford’s isn’t the only such space; there are many privately owned public spaces (POPS) around the city: plazas, squares, landscaped walkways, wee courtyards. Because they are often adjacent to private condos and office complexes and are inconspicuous from the street, we assume they’re private — but they’re not. The Star says numbers aren’t accurate, what with years of “unsteady” city record-keeping, but that they number something in the dozens, potentially hundreds; city planners have thus far compiled a list of 27 sites created since 2000, amounting to about 1.3 million square feet.

Now, a Ward 22 Councillor by the name of Josh Matlow has plans to file a notice of motion to council pushing for a planning report identifying all POPS in the city. He also wants a separate report to “look into” (in the Star’s words — i.e. “form a committee and spend a bunch of public money on”) the possibility of mounting signs that let people know that they are welcome to use the space.

Oy.

Being a member of parliament for a while does not make you Winston Churchill. Councillors, you do not have to drum up a cause to make your mark. Just do your job efficiently, don’t lie to the people, and move along. While I sometimes do belief that councillors are acting out of a genuine interest in their constituents and/or convicted personal belief (the latter of which, although a little more admirable than just bush-whacking to get your name in the paper, still has no place in civil service — you are there purely to represent us), many just feel like a desperate low-rung politician dying to find something to hang his hat on (to mangle a metaphor or two).

How much money are we talking about here? A planning report identifying all POPS, a separate report to look into mounting signs, potentially the actual printing and mounting of such signs — we have to be well into the thousands already, especially considering the bloated salaries of the public servants who will identify/look into/mount these wastes of time and space. A hundred grand? Two? Of our tax money? Seems reasonable.

There’s another potential cost, but since he doesn’t have to pay it, it doesn’t seem of terribly much import to the earnest councillor. The property manager at One Bedford is quoted as believing such signage wouldn’t sit well with her residents, who, by the way, pay for the courtyard’s upkeep and repair. The property manager says that even without such signage, she already gets complaints about non-resident loiterers, garbage, noise …

Many of these spaces are the result of negotiations between city planners and developers, wherein a planner grants a builder some vertical real estate in exchange for their leaving a little something green and publicly accessible on the ground, a cost absorbed by the buyers and tenants.

I’m not advocating snobbery here. I don’t say privatize these spaces, gate them, or chase people away from them, but there are a few “buts” here.

But … while Manhattan has had such POPS signage since the mid-‘70s, Manhattan is a city where you can go for blocks without seeing a patch of grass. Even in the more lushly planted, brownstone-lousy low-rise neighbourhoods, the trees often appear to be growing out of a hole in the sidewalk. If you want a park, it’s a destination, like getting a cab and heading for Central Park or another of the biggies. You just don’t happen on them. In Toronto’s core, you are never more than a couple of blocks from an obviously public space. We aren’t panting for a patch of grass to the same degree as in some dense cities.

But … if I pay for something, shouldn’t I have some control over how it’s used? If these are to remain public spaces because of a zoning deal with the city, should I at least have a vote on how well publicized it is? If it’s my hard-earned, after-tax income we’re talking about, how much should I be on the hook for maintenance and repairs? Do I have to hire someone to pick up soggy butts and dog poop? What about litigation? If someone comes into the little parkette I pay to maintain, falls down and breaks his neck, can his mother sue me for putting up a sign that made the space an attractive nuisance?

But … without POPS guidelines, developers and property managers are free to make the rules for the space, as long as they don’t outlaw “trespassing,” which means they can ban smoking or, say, dogs, but not keep people out. Does this mean we should be convening committees and producing reports of recommendations to put POPS laws in place?

And the biggest but … if it ain’t broke, why are we trying to spend a big pile of money to fix it? Is it a right of all citizens to not only be welcome in (as long as you’re not an inconsiderate boob) every public space in the city, but to require a sign letting you know that a space lurks nearby?

We have bigger problems in this city than underused courtyards. Let’s house the homeless, fill the potholes, get music programs back into the school, and another hundreds important things, and then worry about some silly signage.