Maybe it’s stressed public cof- fers. Maybe it’s lame, self-involved leadership with no clue about civic values. Or maybe it’s just frustration.

Whatever it is, Nature abhors a vacuum (literally, in this case). Toronto, land of scruffy parks and underused green spaces, appears to be in the grip of a revolt that’s very much a grassroots thing.

On a cold, bleak Saturday last month, several hundred people packed into a modest but handsome new auditorium in Regent Park, built with the support of developer Daniels Corp., to talk about parks. After decades of government neglect, this high-needs neighbourhood is undergoing a massive transformation through a series of public/private partnerships partially initiated by the residents themselves.

The “just do it yourself” idea played out inside the hall, with a four-hour program on citizen action and parks organized by Park People. This non-profit alliance, which has ballooned to include dozens of local park groups in only three years, has attracted impressive private and public backing, including $5 million from the Weston family’s foundation earlier this year.

Many in the crowd – which included park employees from all levels of government – were there to hear an upbeat keynote from speaker Mickey Fearn, the U.S. National Park Service’s deputy director for communications and community assistance. The best part, though, were the remarkable presentations from volunteers and activists who are leading projects designed to get their neighbours’ connecting with local green spaces.

These projects included a community garden project in the Malvern neighbourhood that harnesses the energy of local residents, many of whom met for the first time during the three-year initiative. Pushing on through seemingly endless meetings and hard physical work, the community now has large food gardens in two underused public parks in one of Toronto’s high-needs inner suburbs.

Another project showcased how neighbours have kept winter activities going in an aging park in an older section of the city’s east end. Local parents, armed with little more than hoses and shovels, maintain a natural, out-door rink. They also cart in loads of snow from indoor rinks to beef up the tobogganing. This determined crew – whose numbers keep increasing – even managed to embarrass the city sufficiently to reverse itself. After some incredulous inquiries from the group late last year, city workers finally showed up with rink boards that the city had decided not to deliver this past winter – a truly mean-spirited effort at cost-cutting.

There are a growing number of other individuals and citizen-led groups trying to make something usable out of an abundance of riches that the City of Toronto already has yet has mostly treated as a tiresome burden – its vast network of parks, ravines and green spaces.

Let’s hope the volunteers keep getting the support they need from both city hall, which still must play a key role, and a private sector that has an obligation to give back to the city that has long provided so much of its wealth.IE

© 2013 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.