April 16 2010 community engagement meeting with Costanza Allevato: Thorncliffe Park

(notes from last part of meeting only)

discussion about how job descriptions affect programming

Mayssan – union engaged in harmonization talks

Jutta – it's parks & recreation but no park staff in room

Costanza – gets authority from council and senior management – can't do everything – no such thing as a no

Amy – Roger has to be there re farmers' market

Costanza meeting with Roger next week

Kelvin Seow - Amy's organization has a lot of experience and knowledge

Costanza – our organization is so big especially after amalgamation – next steps – we should continue to meet – both separately with Dufferin Grove and Thorncliffe Park and with both groups together

Jutta hopes Costanza will talk to other groups

Amy – question – Will input from consultations last fall be used now that programs in Thorncliffe Park are starting up again? Or is the summer program out already?

Costanza and Mike (Thorncliffe rec supervisor) – yes summer program in place

Mike – programs were designed six months ago

Costanza – staff have to plan 6-8 months in advance for communication purposes (brochures)

Costanza – indoor cricket idea – approached mosque

Mike – community consultation in fall to plan for next summer

Costanza – we can decide consultation process – e.g. Do we want an advisory committee?

Amy – we had an advisory committee before

Kelvin – maybe there should be a separate advisory committee for the park

Question: Would last fall's consultation be used for next summer?

there is a mixture of registered and drop-in programs

Mayssan - staff can change drop-in programs – even registered programs can be changed sometimes e.g. hockey lessons (at Wallace?) Costanza – registered programs can be changed if registrants want change

Mike – many mechanisms for changing programs

Costanza – fun guide no longer delivered to homes – people can get them at community centres or online – we can do local advertising specific to the community

Chris Kennedy – what about library? librarian used to do story-telling in the park

Amy – local (i.e. Thorncliffe Park) librarian did reading in the park – the librarian in Flemingdon Park also did reading in the park – the Flemingdon Park community centre is a priority centre

the community space in the library has to be centrally booked and paid for if used by outside groups, but community groups and the City don't have to pay

Amy – it would be nice to have Ali? and Eddy at the meeting