This poster appears on the Save Wellesley Green Public Park Facebook page, and is being circulated by email by local neighbourhood associations and downtown residents

Neighbourhood associations and city residents want the Ontario government to make government-owned surplus property behind the blue hoarding at 11 Wellesley St. W. available to the City for creation of a new public park

New park, please: Community groups and city residents concerned about the severe deficiency of downtown parkland have planned a rally for this afternoon to urge Ontario’s premier to make surplus government property on Wellesley Street West available for public green space.

At numerous public meetings I have attended during the past year, city planners, Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray all have acknowledged that downtown Toronto is “parkland deficient” with insufficient green space available for a population that is growing considerably faster than expected, thanks to the city’s ongoing condo building boom.

An opportunity to establish a new park or green space of some kind on Wellesley Street West lies within the provincial government’s grasp — after years of litigation, the Ontario government is finally able to do whatever it wants with a large piece of land at 11 Wellesley West, between Yonge and Bay Streets, that has sat vacant behind hoarding for most of the past decade. However, with eyes at Queen’s Park focussed on reducing Ontario’s enormous budget deficit, politicians seem more prepared to cash in on the condo craze by selling 11 Wellesley West and other surplus government land for redevelopment, rather than keeping it to create new parks for present and future generations of Torontonians to enjoy.

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