bickfordpark.ca The not so official website of Bickford Park, in Toronto

Hello everyone: here are some news items about Bickford Park.

1. Brian Green is back as the local horticulture supervisor of the Parks and Recreation Department! We have worked with him before, and he is an excellent partner. This is very good news. Peter Leiss, the supervisor repsonsible for ground maintenance and facilities, has also been replaced. I have not met the new supervisor, but hope to be in touch with him soon. For your information, there is also a forestry section of Parks, but in the past we have usually contacted them through the horticulture contact. Overall, these are two very positive changes.

2. We should plan a planting day for October. I will contact Brian who has already promised bulbs. We still have quite a bit of money in the Friends of Bickford Park account and could buy some shrubs for the neglected SW corner. In our last meeting we discussed some other projects, including the boccie courts, pruning, and an extension of the SW path into the park.

3. The municipal election is heating up. With regard to "green" issues and parks, most candidates in Ward 19 emphasize their environmental interests or credentials. With the departure of Pantalone (whose environmental accomplishments as councilor lagged far behind his claims), the field is wide open. If you are interested, a fairly balanced source of information on this side of the candidates is the Toronto Environmental Alliance which publishes updated report cards on mayoral and municipal candidates.

4. A new proposal for park use is floating around, based on a report entitled "Fertile Ground" commissioned by the Metcalf Foundation (http://www.metcalffoundation.com/downloads/Fertile_Ground_for_New_Thinking.pdf). It suggests a decentralized parks administration run by local communities. Sounds good at first glance, but it could be the first step towards handing over our parks to private "community" interests with deep pocket backers, or with close links to your councilor's office. This is definitely an issue to watch.

Regards, Bernd

Peanut went missing 10 days ago. We were all very worried, as he's our favorite Mexican Jumping dog. Dawn went on an all out campaign, postering, checking the animal shelters and walking the streets.
Happily, news just came in that PEANUT HAS BEEN FOUND !

Thanks to everyone who pitched in on the "search and rescue". This is another good reason to be sure there is at least one good photo of YOUR dog in the gallery

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click on the link to the right
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(under External Links)

presuming the weather settles down and gives us favorable conditions, like some snow and consistently sub-zero temperatures, and if we can get a Montrose resident, or two, to offer up extra-long garden hoses, we could have ourselves an extra sweet skating rink where the bocci courts used to be.
If we act soon, we could be skating for the Holidays. Who's got the hoses ?

Local artist Greg has added a magical touch to our park; a free standing stand-up bass, skillfully installed on an existing pedestrian crossing pole.

every weekday morning, starting at 6:30am, Dawn will be practicing and instructing the ancient art of Tai Chi.

linuxcaffe has the balls !
We'll be grooming the bocci courts and renting out a brand new set of balls for $5/hr or $25/day.

Now that Bickford Park has it's own website, we can all use it to keep track of related issues and/or events.

the hills were full today.

for friends and neighbors of Bickford Park to play in !