We want Trinity Bellwoods Park to be a safe, inclusive, accessible and wonderful park for everyone.
Friday June 11, 2021
BlogTO posted a feature article today. There’s more to it than the headline suggests (but it is pretty good clickbait): Trinity Bellwoods Park has a serious public urination problem.
Tuesday June 8, 2021
Committee members did interviews that became part of a CBC TV news segment that also included City Councillor Joe Cressy. WATCH IT HERE (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Monday June 7, 2021
An interview with committee members played on CBC Metro Morning and also played on CBC Here and Now, and members were interviewed by CBC TV news. WATCH IT HERE (On the CBC page, find the Toronto news for 6 pm June 7. Skip to the 10 minute mark.)
Sunday June 6, 2021
Another massive all day into the night party in the park. Same general issues with somewhat few people (so… massive crowd but not quite so massive).
Saturday June 5, 2021
AFTERNOON: More people in the park than any day in history.
POV VIDEO THAT SHOWS THE SIZE OF THE CROWD
The police seem to have discouraged some of the loud DJs but instead there was a full punk band (amps, drums, PA). The police were called. They did not arrive for several hours. By then the punks were gone after playing two full sets.
VIDEO OF THE PUNK BAND PLAYING
EVENING: Police came and went in the evening, shutting down amplified noise.
NIGHT: After 11 the park was filled with drunks and lots of amplifed noise.
SHORT VIDEO SHOT AT 11 PM – It’s very dark but you can hear what’s happening.
IMMEDIATE GORE VALE ISSUES: Lots of men and women going between the houses to piss. Also some guys doing coke off each other’s bodies. We have stills and video. One girl just squatted by a tree in the open. Obviously all that beer has to go somewhere.
4 June 2021
FOR GENERAL MEDIA RELEASE:
The Gore Vale Action Committee is a growing group of residents who live directly adjacent to Trinity Bellwoods Park.
We want Trinity Bellwoods Park to be a wonderful park.
Unfortunately right now the park is in crisis. Yes a crisis. Not just a park that has some “issues.”
The thousands of people who are causing massive problems for us are having a great time partying in the park! They flock to the park because the city has allowed it to become an Anything Goes Zone. Drink. Party. Make all the noise you want day or night. It’s great. Except for the people living in houses less than 100 feet away.
Oh and if you need to take a leak… just find an alleyway between our houses and let fly. What could be wrong with that?
Think we’re exaggerating? Watch the videos below. (Then scroll down for more of our media release.)
As of now there are serious short and long term problems. The long term problems are about degradation of the natural environment. These can’t be solved without dealing with the short term problems: Massive parties every night and especially on the weekends, lots of loud drunks, thumping sound systems, partiers peeing in alleyways between our houses. That kind of thing.
On any given sunny Saturday or Sunday there are more people drinking alcohol in the park than in any bar in Toronto (pre-Covid). And if anyone reading this questions this fact, I invite you to come to the park and see for yourself. Just don’t bring a Two-Four. Okay?
Often, the people who come to party completely fill the park. There is no space for sports or family activities.
If there are a thousand people drinking in the park by 4 pm, then by 11 pm there are still a bunch of screaming drunks. Maybe a fight or two. That’s just the way alcohol works – especially in an environment where there are no limits, no bouncers and no last call.
In a recent meeting with residents, local police Staff Sergeant Israel Bernardo summed up the park in one word: lawless.
Parks enforcement and police give a few warnings and hand out a few tickets but this doesn’t begin to address the problem.
According to what they’ve told us, parks enforcement and police would like to do more but as of now… they have not made a dent in the problem. In fact… every week it gets worse.
If you happen to live on Gore Vale Avenue, these problems are obvious, serious, maddening, unavoidable, and cause people to lose sleep at night. We residents are forced to become complainers. We don’t like to be complainers. We have better things to do. But unfortunately, through inattention and/or neglect and/or not wanting to piss off the party lobby, the City of Toronto has allowed Trinity Bellwoods Park to become an Anything Goes Zone.
That must end.
We are a new group of local residents. Unlike other community groups, we all live adjacent to the park. We feel the full frontal effect. We can think of a few possible solutions but… we aren’t experts. We want and expect politicians, city staff, park staff and the police to 1. come and see the problems for themselves, 2. take it seriously as a local CRISIS, 3. work together to figure out solutions, 4. ACTUALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
In the short term, we’re not asking for anything special or extraordinary for Trinity Bellwoods Park. We simply want enforcement of EXISTING laws and bylaws in a park that has been an Anything Goes Zone for far too long.
You’ll be hearing more from us soon.