Mayor Olivia Chow - City in a Tax Grab with the Helen Keller Centre for the Visually Impaired on Eighth St.

Amazingly, the City of Toronto is trying to undertake a tax grab from the new Helen Keller Centre on Eighth St. 

The City is trying to charge the Centre a six digit figure saying that development taxes are overdue, however the Centre maintains that these are not owed, as the building was constructed under the affordable housing initiative, for disabled and low income folks.

Let's hope that Mayor Olivia Chow and her management team come to their senses and quickly resolve this unseemly conflict.  

DASSP is looking forward to welcoming lots of new Visually Impaired park visitors throughout 2025!

 

Park scenes from DASSP member Vesty

It's been a quiet summer for DASSP with all the construction and mayhem in the park this year, but we are still working on a few things behind the scenes, for next year.

It the meantime, here are some beautiful snapshots of the park, from our most dapper member, Vesty!

Everyone have a safe and wonderful Christmas and holiday season!

Sam Smith Park Cleanup Day will be on Sunday, April 27th from 9am - 3pm !

Alan Roy's park cleanup day will be on Sunday, April 27th from 9am - 3pm !

Dress for the weather. Garbage bags will be provided.

Please come out if you are able to, and help us maintain our beloved park! 

Rebuilding the beaches at Sam Smith Park - Disability Impact 2025

The park fencing has gone up as of the end of 2024, and we are anticipating heavy construction vehicles over the first 3 to 4 months of 2025. This has already been delayed by 8 months.

The vehicles will likely ruin the eastern pea gravel path going into SSP. This, combined with the soft and muddy ground resulting from the winter freeze/thaw cycle, will likely disrupt the spring return of wheelchair and elderly folks into the park.

Hopefully the work will be well executed and completed in a timely fashion over the next 2-3 years, unlike the endless construction at Prince of Wales park, nearby at the end of Third St.

Time will tell....

Still no update on making the SSP Dog Park accessible

DASSP has been following up with Toronto Parks, however we are still being told that we will have to wait until later in the year to see what the 2025 budget looks like.

We have noticed that since Jorge retired, his current replacements are notoriously unresponsive to issues concerning Disabled/Elderly Park goers at SSP.

We will keep pressing for further updates...

Bat Box Follow ups not happening.

I received this note from Jessica at TRCA this past week after asking if they would be opening up our bat boxes to check for any activity over the past year...

"At this point in time there is no monitoring scheduled for the bat boxes at CSS. Only boxes included in the provincial requirements for Metrolinx are monitored to confirm they are being used.

Having the monitoring crew go out with the appropriate equipment costs anywhere from $2,500 to $3,500 per box to monitor. This includes analysing the echometer or sonobat recording and they don’t currently have the budget to include more boxes. They suggest community members can monitor for bat exits at dusk to see if they’re being used and ask that the public note if there are any damage to the boxes that requires maintenance."

DASSP will endeavour to monitor over the next year and report back!

Sam Smith Park Clean Up will be Sunday, April 21st.

Alan Roy's park cleanup day will be on Sunday, April 21st ! 

Please come out if you are able to, and help us maintain our beloved park!