Looking for green space

[attach]5015[/attach]Park users will soon have local residents’ group to turn to if they have a concern about Monarch Park.

The Monarch Park Action Group, an offshoot of the Danforth East Community Association, has begun assembling to start to look at ways to improve the green space.

The action group sprouted after DECA produced an inventory list last spring to itemize services and resources in the area bounded by Monarch Park Avenue Main Street, Mortimer and Lumsden in the north, and the GO Train tracks in the south.

“We identified (Monarch Park) as probably the best large-scale park for the neighbourhood,” said Steve Wickens, who is heading up the action group. “It’s a great resource, and there might be ways of making it an even better resource.”

Wickens says the first order of business is public consultations in order to identify the needs and priorities of the park’s residential neighbours.

“It’s actually a fairly well-used park,” he said. “There are times when it could be better used.”

He points to the single pad outdoor ice rink as a possible area of change. Wickens said he’s seen on more than one occasion skaters turned away because a game of shinny is taking place on the ice.

He said the group may look into ways of getting a second ice rink at the park, as well as a tennis court, which Wickens said the neighbourhood is lacking.

The pool and rink also have fewer hours of operation than those in other parts of the city, and Wickens says he wants to find out why and to ensure that park users are maximizing use of the facilities.

The first stage of public consultation was set to begin in mid-October.