Residents push for improvements to McGill Parkette
The McGill Parkette is at the centre of a dispute between the BIA and building manager who leases the land to the city.

TheStar.com
March 20, 2017
Alicja Siekierska

Tucked away behind Yonge St., between two buildings is a small unassuming strip of simple green space featuring five benches.

The McGill Parkette, is the subject of a dispute between residents in the surrounding area near College Station and the building manager who leases the land the park is on to the city.

The small park has been home to vandalism, crime and other issues over the years. In 2015, Mark Ernsting, a 39-year-old cancer researcher and professor at Ryerson University, was stabbed and killed not far from the parkette.

The Downtown Yonge BIA, along with Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, wants to improve the parkette and make it a safer space. The BIA has already spent money on proposed park improvements, hiring a landscape architect to design a plan they say could transform the space into a more welcoming area.

“That patch of the neighbourhood has had some issues over time,” said Downtown Yonge BIA executive director Mark Garner.

“But we want to really improve it . . . open sightlines, get better lighting, and increase the foot traffic, which could solve the problems when it comes to the issues we’re seeing in that park.”

However, the project faces obstacles. The property owners at 415 Yonge St. that lease the land to the city have not approved the plans for improvement, and have floated the idea — among several other suggestions — of converting the park to a loading area.

John Mah, vice-president of asset management at Artis Reid, the investment trust that manages the property next to the parkette, said in an email that renovations to the park are not off the table.

Mah said Artis Reid has “withheld consent” until meeting with the city’s planning department “so that the city would not incur costs prematurely or unnecessarily subject to the outcome of this meeting.”

The building owners came under fire last week when reddit users noticed there were high-frequency, noise-emitting devices that can only be heard by younger people, installed on the building, facing the park. Many people complained to Wong-Tam, who asked the city to investigate.

Despite insisting the devices would not be removed, the day after the city was inundated with complaints, the sonic emitters were gone.

Mah said the devices were installed for security purposes, as the parkette is a high risk area for crime, adding that rates of vagrancy, sexual assaults, drug use, violent and petty crimes all declined after they were installed last fall.

“I’m really happy to hear the devices were removed,” Wong-Tam said. “What I’m hoping for now is a more proactive and collaborative response from the property owner in regards to the proposals that are on the table.”

There is one entrance to the parkette off McGill St., and a gate near the 415 Yonge St. building that is locked.

Artistic renderings produced by Janey Rosenberg & Studio for the proposed park improvements feature more trees, shorter fences enclosing the space and many people leaning on concrete slabs set up throughout the area.

Ian Gemmell, who has lived in the area for 37 years, says the park could be an important feature of the neighbourhood.

“This has become a high density area, and we don’t have too many parks in the downtown core,” he said. “If this were converted into a dog park, I think that would please quite a few people.”

Garner said the Downtown Yonge BIA has already taken steps to try and improve the area. The local green streets team swings by the area frequently. This past summer, the BIA hosted its Play the Parks free concert series in the parkette.

Garner hopes all parties involved can move forward and try to make substantial changes to the park.

“I think we’re in a difficult situation,” Garner said. “I’m not going to put any more money into trying to design and improve the park if the park isn’t going to be improved . . . this is what the community wants. The neighbourhood wants to see it as a usable park.”