Spearheaded by Toronto police’s 14 Division, the bike unit patrolled the Queen and Shaw streets park from early May to Sept. 1, handing out 1,625 verbal cautions along with pamphlets on park etiquette and 67 provincial offence notices at $125 each, a far cry from a City of Toronto bylaw ticket, which costs $360.

The project came about after a chaotic 2013 summer that left nearby residents annoyed and upset about the behaviour of parkgoers and overall disrespect for the area, Hogan said. Even City of Toronto park staff was at their wits end about the damage, vandalism and litter left behind after a weekend of illegal drinking in the park, he said.

“We had people riding motorcycles through here drunk, bringing in huge speakers, people urinating on people’s houses late at night, breaking things,” Hogan said. “It became a gong-show.”

See full article at InsideToronto.com

If you haven't done already, please do.  Your input is valuable because you good folk use it on a daily basis.  It takes perhaps 5-10 mins, with opportunity to write comments outside of the direct questions.

The City of Toronto wants to know a bit more about why you love parks and how you use them. This online survey takes five minutes to complete and is accessible until the end of September. Let 'em know your thoughts! And use 311!

Survey is at this link: https://cityoftoronto.fluidsurveys.com/s/parks_users/

One of our park's iconic white squirrels met its end this past weekend while running the high wires.  May s/he rest in peace.  The Toronto Star and blog.to and Toronto LIfe have run items and photos.

(Note: these photos were found on google -- many thanks to those park users)

We're wondering if it's the same young squirrel that was treated for injuries by Toronto Animal Services and then released back in to the park in September 2012....?  The Toronto Star did an article at the time.

The Toronto Star's Margaret Bream also did an article called Wild in the City: Encountering the Mythic White Squirre which gives some good information about what they are.  It explains that what we have at Trinity Bellwoods Park is an albino eastern grey squirrel (Sciuris carolinensis) rather than a white morph — the name biologists give to a local variety of a particular species that appears different from the norm. Toronto’s black squirrels, for example, are a black morph of the eastern grey squirrel.

There is more than one in our park so there are sure to continue to be sightings -- but, sadly, fewer.

Life in a public space can be pretty rough.  Witness the short life of this rogue installation now partially destroyed.

Who knows if the destruction was late night mischief or a critical statement about the art.

Hopefully the artist had a plan for taking the piece down -- we're proponents of the temporary up and planned-taking-down approach to rogue art -- and will see to that soon. 

More improvements in the park...