Park washrooms open early
Toronto park users have reasons number one and number two to welcome spring — the earliest ever opening of seasonal park washrooms and the drinking fountains attached to them.
“When you have to go, you just have to go,” Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters at Ashbridges Bay on Friday, announcing that 80 per cent of the 124 seasonal washrooms are open for your business, and that the remainder will be functioning by next Friday.
During her mayoral byelection campaign last year, Chow promised to reverse a decline in city services that included closed park washrooms, broken water fountains, overflowing garbage cans and other public amenities.
Her predecessor John Tory came under fire in spring 2022 for initially defending the city’s timelines for opening the facilities, which staff said were intended to give them time to test the water and avoid the risk of a late frost damaging pipes. Just 60 per cent of public fountains were operable by the end of that May.
Facing sharp criticism, Tory got council to boost funding to get seasonal washrooms and attached fountains and bottle-filling taps open by the week of May 5, 2023.
Chow said this year’s prolonged warm weather helped city staff get to work on plumbing, but the recent temperature dip made it impossible to get all the seasonal washrooms open before May 1. She acknowledged sharing Torontonians’ past frustration at being told washrooms and fountains were operational, only to find locked doors and waterless basins.
“I’m fixing it,” the mayor vowed, urging residents to report such problems to 311. “We are cleaning it, we are fixing it, there are a few things that aren’t perfect yet, but it’s very much on our radar.”
The city expects to open: splash and spray pads by May 17; all remaining stand-alone water fountains and bottle-filling stations by May 24; beach lifeguard service by June 1; outdoor pools on evenings and weekends between June 15 and June 22; and wading pools and outdoor pools open on full schedule by June 28.
Toronto spends more than $180 million annually to maintain, staff and operate more than 1,500 city parks.
The city is also making some changes to try to improve the experience of people who take a ferry to and from the Toronto islands. Crowds and long queues in hot weather at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal are an unfortunate Toronto tradition that was repeated last Canada Day.
Howie Dayton, in charge of city parks, forestry and recreation, said staff are focused on promoting the purchase of ferry tickets online before people arrive, or at the terminal using their phones, to get them through the kiosks as quickly as possible.
More staff will be at the terminal to help get people through quickly and they’ll constantly adjust the number of kiosks handling people displaying prepaid tickets versus those buying tickets depending on the numbers, he said. They’ll also solicit user feedback on other improvements.
The big floating fix for ferry frustration will be the replacement of aging diesel boats with new electric models able to carry many more passengers.
The electric ferry program has, however, fallen behind an original schedule that predicted the first boat would arrive by the end of this year and the second by mid-2025. Dayton said city council will, in the next few months, receive an update on the timeline for ordering and receiving the boats.
“I can’t say yet when the ferries will be built and in operation but certainly we’re getting closer to clarity on that,” he said.