Public Commons

Part of Background: Ward 18 Conservancy Rules affecting us

Here are some principles and goals which might guide councillors: Principles – Councillors wish to support:

Principles:

• build on the long-time track record of how the four parks work so well for the people who use them - the welcoming, neighbourly focus, broad competence, resourcefulness and versatility of local city staff, and Nobel Prize Winner Elinor Ostrom's list of criteria about what makes these kinds of arrangements work: Elinor Ostrom's list of principles for Governing the Commons
• leave space to continue to adapt the practical arrangements that make the parks work while addressing the requirements set out in applicable laws and honouring the spirit of city policies (park safety for park users and city staff, respecting employment standards, proven small-scale, flexible, transparent, accountable cash handling arrangements, minimizing city liability,etc)

Goals: To reach an agreement to launch a local governance pilot that:

• creates the parks conservancy to build upon the solid track record of running 4 local parks well
• a pilot project to study the practical arrangements behind the long-term track record of:
  • providing excellent value for tax dollars
  • practical measures that make these specific local parks work well, in particular, the flexibility, neighbourly focus and broad competence of staff and park friends who run them day-to-day to documents the experience of the pilot as a possible model for:
    1) running other city parks and public amenities,
    2) accessible, publicly transparent and accountable local governance and
    3) value-for-dollar city budgeting on a small-scale, transparent basis
• opts out of the city policies that make it impossible to do what works at our four parks* – and replaces this with study of proven local accountability measures that meet the purposes and objects of the City of Toronto Act
• provides direct City oversight and reporting on pilot by Task Force
• report on CELOS' “third way” of fundraising to fund enhanced park programming, far beyond what is offered in most city parks
• provides the city with the real costs of running each of the four parks as a model for accessible, publicly transparent and accountable local government and city budgeting
• continues to respond in practical ways to address actual and reasonably foreseeable harms and liability based on documented hard evidence available for public evaluation and discussion
• is written in clear, everyday language
• local parks that work well for park users and provide good value for our tax dollars
• a pilot project to study the practical arrangements behind the long-term track record of what makes these specific local parks work well, in particular, the flexibility, neighbourly focus and broad competence of staff and park friends who run them day-to-day

Goals:

• a conservancy agreement that builds upon the solid track record of what has worked well over many years
• a pilot project to document:
  • the inexpensive, small scale ways of achieving provide public accountability in a limited, local context
  • the best tools for running and making the most of local public amenities
  • practical local risk assessment based on on-going documentation of publicly available hard data about actual and reasonably foreseeable potential harms/liabilities

How Councillors might make space for the conservancy and local accountability pilot project:

• opt out of the city policies that make it impossible to do what works How might City Council create the space for a rinks or parks conservancy and instead,
• request small task force to study the existing local accountability practices that have worked for several years and report back to council re: governance and budget implications