Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 2005 |
Preceding agency |
|
Type | Division |
Jurisdiction | City of Toronto |
Motto | A city within a park |
Employees | 4,761 (2022) |
Annual budget | 481.9 million (2022) |
Agency executive |
|
Website | Official website |
Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of recreational programming in city-operated facilities.
With a gross annual operating budget in 2022 of 481.9 million, [1] and a 10-year capital budget of $2.7 billion, the division operates 1473 named parks, 839 sports fields, 137 community centres, nearly 670 other recreational facilities, and is also responsible for the city's over 3 million trees. PF&R employs over 4,000 permanent and temporary full-time and part-time, unionized and non-unionized staff, and is one of the city's largest services. [2] [3] [4] The division is led by a general manager, presently Janie Romoff, and is organizationally part of the city's Community and Social Services cluster.
In 1884, an administrative group named the Committee on Public Walks and Gardens was officially created to oversee the city’s parks and green space. Before then, the city as a whole was responsible for them (namely then a large reserve public space south of Front Street from Yonge to Spadina) since the incorporation of Toronto in 1834. [5] In the nineteenth century, the focus of the committee was on the maintenance of green space and the provision of walks and gardens; not much was addressed in terms of recreational activities or recreation facilities. In the early twentieth century, the social conditions of the city changed dramatically, and supervised recreational activities became a subject of interest. The twentieth century also marked the development of playgrounds around the city. In 1912, there were no playgrounds; by 1947 there were 121. Picnic and recreational facilities were also opened up around the city in the parks. In 1945, the department was given the responsibility to oversee the creation and maintenance of community centres. In 1947, the department was renamed as the Department of Parks and Recreation. [5]
Following the 1998 amalgamation of Toronto, the former department Metro Toronto Parks and Culture and merged with the counterpart department in each of the former municipalities to former the present department:
In 2005, the Department of Parks and Recreation was split into the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division and the Economic Development and Culture Division.
The division reports to a deputy city manager and with the new executive committee its role will be overseen by two councillors who are heads of city council standing committees:
The Parks, Forestry & Recreation Division is responsible for:
Parks, Forestry and Recreation’s vision is for Toronto to be known by the world as a “City within a Park”, a tapestry of parks, open spaces, rivers and streets that will connect their neighbourhoods and join them with their clean, vibrant lakefront. [7]
The division is organized into six branches: Community Recreation; Parks; Urban Forestry; Management Services; Parks Development and Capital Projects; and Policy & Strategic Planning. [8]
Community Recreation is responsible for providing recreational programming. It operates 137 community centres, 48 indoor ice pads, 64 outdoor ice pads, 65 indoor pools, and 59 outdoor pools. [4] Most instructors and program staff are hired on a part-time basis. [9] The branch has four service areas, community recreation, aquatics, customer service, and standards and innovation. [10]
The branch organizes itself into five districts, modeled on the former municipalities: Etobicoke/York (West), North York (North), Scarborough (East), Toronto/East York (South), and West Toronto/York (split from Etobicoke/York and Toronto/East York in 2018). [11]
Aquatics is part of Community Recreation and is responsible for the operation of the City's 65 indoor pools, 59 seasonal outdoor pools, 100 wading pools, 93 splash pads, the Kidstown water park, and providing aquatic instructional programs. [4] [12] PFR operates several Olympic sized swimming pools, including the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, and the Etobicoke Olympium. Instructional programs include the Learn to Swim program and Ultra levels, which were developed with the Lifesaving Society, SPLASH Swim Team, stroke improvement, junior lifeguard courses, [13] and lifesaving courses including National Lifeguard certification. [14] Leisure swim is offered free of charge at all pools operated by the division. [10]
The City also employees lifeguards along the waterfront during the summer months. [15] The waterfront supervision program was formerly under the Toronto police as the Toronto Police Lifeguard Service, but was transferred to PFR following a 2017 modernization initiative. [16]
The division releases a semi-annual booklet called the FUN Guide, providing information on programs and services available for people of all ages. There is a booklet produced for each city district: Etobicoke York, North York, Scarborough, Toronto & East York, and West Toronto York. The booklet is organized by topics such as: Adapted/Integrated Services, Preschool, Registration, Arts, Camps, Fitness and Wellness, Jobs, Leadership, Older Adults, Permits, Skating, Ski & Snowboarding, Sports, Swimming, Youth, and Volunteers. [17] Other recreational activities and services provided by the division are: camping facilities, community centres, cycling, discovery walks, golfing, and tennis. [18]
The City offers a subsidy to help low income individuals and families access recreational programming, provided in the form of a credit on the City's "efun" system. As of 2018, the credit is $537 for children and youth, and $249 for adults and seniors. [19]
Parks' responsibilities include the operation of approximately 1500 parks, providing ferry service to and from the Toronto Islands, managing the two animal farms and High Park Zoo, administrating the community gardens program, and providing plants for the city's gardens and conservatories. [4] Public parks are governed by TorontoMunicipal Code Chapter 608. [20]
In 2003, Parks introduced mobile outreach crews which aim to connect the homeless population in the parks system with agencies and other City divisions that provide support. The program conducts park visits and safety visits across the city. [21] [22]
A series of self-guided trails in various parks in the city along rivers, ravines and beaches that have cultural and historical significance:
Urban Forestry is responsible for maintaining the city's urban forest protecting trees and maintaining tree health, and the enforcement and implementation of by-laws, and city policies pertaining to forestry and trees. [4] Trees are governed by Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 813. [23]
The division reports to a deputy city manager, and is led by a general manager. PFR is divided into:
Formerly, the division organized the city into five districts: North, South, East, West and Central Services and Waterfront. The Central Services and Waterfront District were responsible for cross-city issues as well as specific services such as the ferry services. The North, East, South and West Districts were further divided into three physical areas. Each of these subdivisions had a manager in charge of the operation of recreational programming, facilities and parks; a Technical Services and Urban Forestry Section responsible for the delivery of forestry services, facilities and park maintenance, and janitorial support; and an Operations Support Co-ordinator in charge of overseeing the cohesiveness of their subdivision with others as well as the community. [24]
The trucks can be identified with the City's wordmark on the front and passenger-side body, with 'Call 311' below it. Some trucks are retrofitted with amber lights.
The Parks branch also operates five ferries (four are passenger ferries) that travel to the Toronto Islands (see also Toronto Island ferries) [25]
In September 2020, the City estimated that 350 to 400 people living in homeless encampments in the park system. [26] During the Covid-19 pandemic, health measures at shelters was inadequate which led to a rise in encampments in parks. [27] In October 2020, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the City did not comply with physical distancing measures in the shelter system. [28] The by-law which prohibits camping and setting up camps in parks was challenged by a group of homeless residents in 2020 on the grounds that it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms . A court rejected the motion, ruling that the Charter does not grant the right to live in parks.[ citation needed ]
Gateway National Recreation Area is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping. More than 8.7 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area in 2022, making it the fourth-most visited unit of the National Park Service.
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's residents and visitors.
Port Union, also known as Centennial Scarborough is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-east corner of Toronto, within the former suburb of Scarborough. The neighbourhood is bounded by Kingston Road to the north, Port Union Road to the east, the Lake Ontario shoreline to the south, and Highland Creek to the west.
Mimico is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being located in the south-west area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. It is in the south-east corner of the former Township of Etobicoke, and was an independent municipality from 1911 to 1967.
The Toronto waterfront is the lakeshore of Lake Ontario in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It spans 46 kilometres between the mouth of Etobicoke Creek in the west and the Rouge River in the east.
Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a natural bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational boating, including personal vessels and pleasure boats providing scenic or party cruises. Ferries travel from docks on the mainland to the Islands, and cargo ships deliver aggregates and raw sugar to industries located in the harbour. Historically, the harbour has been used for military vessels, passenger traffic and cargo traffic. Waterfront uses include residential, recreational, cultural, commercial and industrial sites.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is "To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all." The agency is the largest landowner in Massachusetts.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is a conservation authority in southern Ontario, Canada. It owns about 16,000 hectares of land in the Toronto region, and it employs more than 400 full-time employees and coordinates more than 3,000 volunteers each year. TRCA's area of jurisdiction is watershed-based and includes 3,467 square kilometres (1,339 sq mi) – 2,506 on land and 961 water-based in Lake Ontario. This area comprises nine watersheds from west to east – Etobicoke Creek, Mimico Creek, Humber River, Don River, Highland Creek, Petticoat Creek, Rouge River, Duffins Creek and Carruthers Creek.
The 519, formerly known as The 519 Church Street Community Centre, is an agency by the City of Toronto. A Canadian charitable, non-profit organization, it operates a community centre in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 519 serves both its local neighbourhood and the broader lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in the Toronto area. The 519 defines its local neighbourhood by a catchment area that spans from Bloor Street to the north to Gerrard Street to the south, and from Bay Street in the west to Parliament Street in the east.
The municipal government of Toronto is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the City of Toronto Act.
Woodbridge is a large suburban housing development, begun in 1975 by the Irvine Company, in the central region of Irvine, California. It covers 2.65 square miles and has two large artificial lakes at its center. It contains four public elementary schools, two public middle schools, and Woodbridge High School. Most of the developments were completed by the mid-1990s. In 2013, development began on the first new housing tract in 15 years, consisting of 48 new homes called The Branches.
Humber Valley Village is a neighbourhood located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is within the former suburb of Etobicoke and includes some of the most expensive real estate in the metropolitan west end. The boundaries are from Dundas Street on the south to Islington Avenue to the west, Eglinton Avenue to the north, and the Humber River in the east. The neighbourhood is in the political riding of Etobicoke Centre.
Centennial Park is a large municipal park with many sports facilities, maintained by the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Waterfront Toronto is an organization that oversees revitalization projects along the Toronto waterfront. Established in 2001 as a public–public partnership between the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario and Government of Canada, the organization is administering several blocks of land redevelopment projects surrounding Toronto Harbour and various other initiatives to promote the revitalization of the area, including public transit, housing developments, brownfield rehabilitation, possible removal of the Gardiner Expressway in the area, the Martin Goodman Trail and lakeshore improvements, and naturalization of the Don River. Actual development of the projects is done by other entities, primarily private corporations. The projects include a series of wavedeck walkways and gathering places designed by West 8 and DTAH.
Public services in Toronto are funded by municipal property taxes, financial transfers from the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada, or are operated and financed by the higher-level governments. Funding for services provided by the municipal government is determined by a vote of the Toronto City Council in favour of the year's proposed operating budget.
Toronto Solid Waste Management Services is the municipal service that handles the transfer and disposal of garbage as well as the processing and sale of recyclable materials collected through the blue box program in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
National Lifeguard, commonly known as an NL, NLA or NLS, is a lifeguarding certification program in Canada, offered by the Lifesaving Society.
The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is an executive branch agency of the government of the District of Columbia in the United States. The department plans, builds, and maintains publicly owned recreational facilities in District of Columbia, including athletic fields, community centers, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, spray pools and tennis courts. It also manages publicly run recreational sports leagues for youth and adults as well as provides various outdoor activities for youth, adults, and senior citizens.
Public swimming pools in Hong Kong are managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). There are 44 public swimming pools in Hong Kong; 9 in Hong Kong Island, 13 in Kowloon, and 22 in the New Territories. LCSD manages public swimming pools according to Law of Hong Kong Chapter 132 sections 42 to 45.