Glenn worked hard to preserve, enhance and expand Scarborough’s parks and community gardens.
Albert Campbell Park
For many years, Glenn worked to bring playground equipment and a proper park to the thousands of families living in the Scarborough Civic Centre condo area. Glenn obtained the $1.2 million needed to build the park by keeping the proceeds of the sale of the old City gravel parking lot for local community use. The park will include playgrounds for both younger and older kids, a water feature/splash pad, a mini soccer pitch, a segregated dog meet-and-greet area, public art, new walking paths, and new trees and flowers (see artist’s rendering). The funds are approved, the architect has been hired, and construction should be completed in 2019.
North Bendale Playground
A “topsy-turny” spinner, slides, swings, a loop ladder, bridges and ramps are just some of the fun features of the new North Bendale Playground. Situated in Scarborough’s North Bendale Park, the playground is providing fun for children of all ages, including toddlers! One play area is designed especially for youngsters 18 months to five years. Older children enjoy exploring the bridges, ramps and climbing ropes. Prior to the opening of this playground, residents of North Bendale provided valuable input about the design during community meetings. The new playground, which replaced 50-year-old equipment, is now being enjoyed by countless area residents!
Bendale Acres Community Garden
Glenn helped the seniors at Bendale Acres and Brimley Acres, as well residents of the Toronto Community Housing building on Lawrence Avenue, to improve their community garden, which was created many years ago. In 2017, Glenn worked with the local gardeners to create a layout, raise funds, build the fences and gardens, and add a water supply. This 35-plot community garden will be enjoyed by many local gardeners, including members of the Chinese Seniors’ Garden Club, for years to come!
Daventry Community Garden
Glenn worked with local gardeners to revitalize the busy Daventry Community Garden. About 100 gardeners pay about $80 per year to rent a plot from the City, and now they’re getting more benefits for their rent. Glenn installed a new water supply to the current garden (making it possible for several gardeners to water their gardens at the same time without losing water pressure). He’s also having years of accumulated junk removed from the site, is doubling the size of the garden (about the size of a football field), getting new fencing for the enlarged garden, and finding a new water supply from Markham Road to provide a source of water for the newest section of the garden. The garden is enabling more than 200 gardeners to rent plots from the City and grow food just steps from their homes.
Lee Centre Park
Glenn moved mountains—and piles of dirt—to create the wonderful Lee Centre Park. When Glenn was elected in 2003, this area was literally a garbage dump! The site of the old sales pavilion (which the developer was supposed to turn into a park) had cheap, orange snow fencing encircling it, rubbish and materials left over from the sales pavilion, and it had become an illegal dumping ground. It was an incredible mess that the developer refused to improve. After years of fighting, Glenn prompted the City to take legal action, which transferred the site to City ownership, and then obtained funds from the developer so that the City could build the park that the neighbourhood deserved. The park is a wonderful addition for the thousands of families living in the Lee Centre area and includes a splash pad, a soccer pitch, playgrounds for both younger and older children, artistic steel lanterns that provide beautiful lighting in the evening, a shade structure, benches, trees and shrubs. Turning a garbage dump into a beautiful park was one of the most rewarding park projects that Glenn ever tackled!
McCowan Park
The old McCowan Park—located north of John McCrae Senior Public School and often referred to as Spider Park—was build on an old garbage dump, and the park was showing its age when Glenn was first elected. Since then, Glenn had over 200 large trees planted on the site, held community tree planting and renaturalization events, and installed a new asphalt path, playground equipment, and sitting stones. More people use this park today than they had for many years—now that people have a place to sit, a path to follow, a playground to use and some trees to rest under.
Scarborough Centre Butterfly Meadow
Glenn initiated an exciting project to create more than 80 acres of new butterfly habitat by planting flowers and shrubs to make a series of butterfly meadows along the hiking and biking trail. The non-native species of grass in the old hydro corridor is being replaced with hundreds of native wildflowers, shrubs and grasses that are providing colourful homes for bird, butterflies, bees and other pollinators. Now, people hiking through our hydro corridor can see beautiful flowers “buzzing” with new life. An added benefit is that maintaining all of this costs 66 per cent less than maintaining the traditional barren grass—which saves taxpayers money!
Scarborough Centre Hiking and Biking Trail
Glenn worked hard to have the City build a new hiking and biking path through the hydro field that runs from the southwest corner of our community (Thomson Park) to the northeast corner of our community (Ellesmere and Orton Park). Very few people used the hydro corridor in the past, because it was isolated, unmaintained (from a park-like perspective) and unconnected. The new path now connects the entire northern part of our community and has pedestrian-activated traffic lights, so that people can cross roads such as Markham Road and Bellamy Road safely. The space is well manicured along the main path and is now filled with people, ensuring increased safety. Glenn has seen all sorts of people using the path: kids walking to school, seniors exercising, dog walkers, skateboarders, kids with training wheels learning how to ride their bikes, wheelchair users whizzing along, people with rolling luggage walking to the bus stop, and many people on bikes! Glenn thought the path was mainly for hiking or biking, but now realizes that the path has effectively created a new park for local residents at little cost to the taxpayer.
Knob Hill Park
Nestled between Danforth Road and Brimley Road, Knob Hill Park is a popular spot for residents of the southwest portion of Glenn’s Scarborough Centre riding. Glenn worked to enhance the park with the addition of a large, attractive gazebo, which provides shade and serves as a distinctive meeting spot for families and community groups, including the Knob Hill Bird Club (pictured here). Glenn knows that features such as gazebos and benches help make Scarborough’s beautiful parks even more inviting.
Thomson Memorial Park
This 42-hectare park provides something for all ages and fitness levels. The latest addition to the park is a colourful splash pad, which keeps kids engaged and cool during the warm months. Dog owners will enjoy the large off-leash dog park. In addition, the park features a ball diamond, outdoor tennis courts, two playgrounds, drinking fountains, ponds, a sports field, several picnic areas with shelters, free parking and washrooms. Winding through the park is a hiking and biking trail. Fitness buffs will be challenged by the outdoor fitness equipment that is positioned at different spots behind the Scarborough Museum—and the museum is worth a visit itself!
705 Progress Park
After a decade of effort, Glenn convinced both City staff and the Toronto District School Board to support a plan, in principle, that would see the 10 acres of property at 705 Progress Ave. (next to the AG Simpson Factory) turned into a park. The first phase involved tearing down the old industrial units the City and TDSB purchased years ago. In 2019, construction will begin on a new park with two playing fields, benches, public washrooms, walking paths, a drinking fountain, trees, a splash pad and parking (see concept sketch). This project is complicated by the fact that the property is jointly owned, so approval—and funding—is required from two distinct governments, neither of which has funds available for new parks. Glenn worked with the local school trustee, had a concept plan agreed upon, and was looking for funding to build a big, beautiful park where parking lots currently exist.
Toyota Place Park
Toronto Council has approved Glenn’s motion to rezone an orphaned space beside the Lee Centre condos into parkland so that we can make a large new park for the 4,000 families living in the local community. The only park for these families is currently the charming-but-small Lee Centre Park, which Glenn helped create. The new Toyota Place Park will create a large green space that could be used for sports, a dog park, basketball area, and other community needs.
Greenbrae Circuit Parkette
Plans are under way to turn the old Greenbrae Circuit Parkette into a wonderful new community park. “The old Greenbrae Parkette is used by very few people, has no playground, and has no amenities for other members of our community,” said Glenn in 2018. “I have been working very hard to get enough funding to take this scruffy, old parkette and turn it into something beautiful.” The City will be funding features such as a picnic area, a new playground with monkey bars, a gazebo, games tables, and a splash pad to cool and entertain kids on hot days. Residents are offering their suggestions about how to make this an amazing community park.