-Jon Farmer

When I was a kid, the local parks were extensions of our yards. I grew up on 8th Ave A East just around the corner from Owen Heights Park with its swings, slides, monkey bars, tire swing, and teeter-totters. My sister, neighbours, and I spent hours playing there, just around the corner from home but under the watchful eye of friends and neighbours; some of whom we only knew from sharing time in that park between our homes. We connected over shared space and the easy introductions of swing sets and soccer balls but those relationships lasted into adulthood through passing smiles, waves, casual conversations, and neighbourly greetings. Owen Heights and other parks profoundly shaped my experience of Owen Sound and hearing city councilors championing the idea of selling them off recently made me realize that I have been taking those parks for granted and that it is time to describe why they're important

Owen Heights was the most important park of my childhood but large and small parks across Owen Sound have been the stages for some of the most important lessons and relationships of my life. My grandparents took us to Duncan MacLellan and Heights View regularly; friends and I traded our first theories about humanity in Garafraxa and Parkview; Harrison Park was the closest thing to unexplored wilderness I knew as a kid and tobogganing there gave us the best exercise available in the winter, inevitably followed by hot chocolate that stained the corners of mouths beneath our rosy cheeks; and Kelso Beach – as the home of Summerfolk – allowed me to gather volunteer and work experience that shaped my career aspirations.

Parks may have been an important resource in my childhood but they benefit more than only children. They are inexpensive areas for recreation and connection for people of all ages. While I played my parents and grandparents were also active, playing with us, connecting with neighbours, or simply getting fresh air. All of those activities benefit physical and mental health and the more of them our city gets, the better. Healthy populations require fewer resources in the long term but it's notoriously difficult to measure the trips that people don't make to healthcare providers as a result.

Parks give people of all ages soothing spaces with no cost of entry. Neighbourhood parks are even more important because they provide those benefits to people of all income levels. Harrison and Kelso are great places but I would never have been allowed to ramble there on my own under the age of ten, nor would my parents have had time to take us there for a quick half-hour after dinner. Without a vehicle visiting those larger parks casually would have been impossible. As kids we were only able to use the park as much as we did because it was so close and as an adult I can hardly imagine driving to a large park just to take an evening walk. Nor do I find walking around subdivisions to be soothing . Without communal space to stop, or sit and read, or play fetch with your dog it's just not the same.

Parks are only useful, however, when management practices and bylaws make them useful. Picnic lunches at Harrison Park and Kelso Beach are pleasant experiences but that is only true for so many because of small investments like picnic tables and playground equipment. Without a table a large portion of our population can't stop for long because they are either unwilling or unable to sit for extended periods of time on the ground. In this case, the small difference of something like picnic tables makes a large difference in a park's overall utility.

I saw that first hand living in my old subdivision again last summer. My landlords were comparative new-comers to the neighbourhood so we decided to arrange a community picnic in the park to help them meet more of the neighbours. We rented a popcorn machine, put flyers into mailboxes around the neighbourhood, and arranged for the city to bring three picnic tables. More than thirty people between the ages of 1 and 85 joined us, most of whom we didn't know. We brought guitars and sang songs, tossed Frisbees back and forth, and got to know each other. One woman had been living nearby since 1954 and told us stories about how they used to have picnics and barbeques there all the time. It was fun.

A week after the picnic, city workers came to remove the tables. The simple addition of picnic tables had made the park more useful in a way that the solitary bench permanently set there does not. When I was growing up there were always at least two tables in Owen Heights Park but in 2015 they were there only when expressly ordered. Otherwise the tables were returned to their stacks in Harrison Park. Those stacks of tables – much like our parks generally – are publicly funded resources that are not used to their full potential. As the City reviews its services, this is a great time to carefully examine optimal utilization and not just the budget figures.

The recent application and decision to expand the community gardens below Victoria Park demonstrates a public need and desire to use City land for communal projects and the impact that small investments can have. As city staff and councilors review parks management they would do well to look at the examples set by other jurisdictions across Ontario and around the world. Parks People in Toronto have been engaging neighbourhoods in community driven parks management since 2011, shifts in the ecological management of Toronto's High Park have helped endangered native species return, outdoor workout equipment in Puntas Arenas, Chile helps people stay active and healthy while regularly using the waterfront. A city service review has the potential to improve service delivery but only if we use it to examine both what we want from and what is possible in our parks.

Personally, the kind of city where I want to live supports the value of communal space and recognizes the benefits – for people of any age – of time spent outside. Even if Owen Sound technically has more park area than the standards dictate then those parks are truly a special resource and one that we should support, not sacrifice for short term gains. Managing parks the way we do is no doubt expensive. If lower city revenues demand cost savings then we can look to alternative management models. There are multiple models of parks management that better engage the public, improve food security, and support native species. Let's save money by managing our parks more creatively, not just by managing fewer of them or cutting less grass.