Residents want city to open up access to 'huge' city park

Eleven years after access to one of the city's largest parks was severely choked off, local residents are insisting it's time to open the gates again.

At 92 hectares, Rowntree Mills Park in north Etobicoke is the city's fifth largest park. It runs along the banks of the Humber River between Finch and Steeles avenues.

But in 2008, complaints of criminal activity in the park after dark led city councillors to restrict access to interior roadways and parking areas, city records show.

"The park was our safe space many, many years ago," local resident Aaleem Mohammed said Wednesday. "But because there's a lack of access to it, people forget about it and when you forget about some thing ... you kind of close up; there's a lack of a sense of community."

Last weekend, about 60 area residents, led by Ellie Hudon, took part in a walk through the park to show off its potential.

"There's absolutely nothing like this giant park in the whole of Rexdale," Hudon said. "I believe access to this park is going to enhance our communitry."

City staff wouldn't provide an interview to CBC Toronto. But city spokesperson Jaclyn Carlisle said the main parking lot on Islington Avenue is open in late spring and summer. Also, two parking lots deep in the park's interior are occasionally opened for special events.

But that's not enough for Hudon and Mohammed. They say the park's lots, roadways and green spaces should all be open to the public year-round.

"It's a huge space but there's lack of access, and it's all due to red tape," Mohammed said. "It shouldn't be like that."

"As you can see, we are surrounded by a lot of apartment buildings in this neighbourhood, so a lot of us do not have a backyard to run out and enjoy and have fun with," Hudon said.

"Coming down to the park and access this space is extremely important to us.

But city councillors in the area warn the park's decade-old problems with crime need to be solved once and for all before they'll back a full re-opening of the park.

"I believe all parks throughout the city should be accessible to everyone," Coun. Michael Ford, whose ward abuts the park, wrote to CBC Toronto.

"That being said, the safety of our residents is paramount. As a neighbouring councillor, this issue has just been brought to my attention in the last few days, and I will be looking into this issue further in the coming days and weeks."

Coun. Anthony Perruzza, whose Ward 7 includes the Rowntree Mills Park, said he's been been discussing the park's future with city staff, with an eye to opening up the interior roadways and parking lots more frequently.

"If drug dealing and prostitution and those kinds of things are returned to the park, then we'll we'll have to figure out how to deal with that," he said.

Perruzza noted that pedestrians and cyclists have always had full access to the park's green spaces, pathways and picnic areas.

As of Wednesday, the main gates to the park on Islington were still padlocked.

City staff said they were expected to be open for the season by the end of this month.