AS OUR CITY GROWS AND EVOLVES, SO SHOULD OUR PARKS

WE NEED TO REDISCOVER AND REIMAGINE WHAT OUR PARKS AND GREEN SPACES CAN DO AND BE, WRITES LEAH HOUSTON

When COVID came to Mabelle Avenue, our community was ready.

Together with Mabelle Avenue neighbours and friends, MABELLEartsstarted the MABELLEpantry in response to the undeniable food security issues we were seeing on the block.

What began as an emergency response supporting the 10 most vulnerable households on the street has evolved into an innovative and celebratory food security program, which coupled with community employment initiatives now support more than 1,000 people with fresh produce and culturally relevant food staples every week.

It was a complex and powerful web of relationships with funders, community partners and especially our neighbours on the block that allowed MABELLEarts to act quickly and with great impact during those early days of COVID. We relied on local residents to tell us what was needed — who was in crisis, who was out of food, who had COVID and needed support, who was especially lonely and afraid.

Our care for and trust within the community was established over time through countless hours together, meeting and creating in Mabelle Park.

Once a neglected thoroughfare, over the years Mabelle residents have worked with the MABELLEarts team to transform the park into a beautiful and vibrant gathering place. Residents of all ages and backgrounds connect in Mabelle Park.

Public and green spaces like Mabelle Park will only become more essential as our city keeps growing and evolving. They'll make all kinds of positive difference as the impacts of climate change come home in our communities.

Our parks will bring us together across our real and perceived differences in a time of increased polarization and loneliness. We'll need to learn to see our parks and green spaces with fresh eyes and to use them in different, innovative ways. We'll need grassroots organizations like MABELLEarts to work closely with residents to rediscover and reimagine what our parks and green spaces can do and be — how can we unlock their potential to move us, connect us and change our lives for the better.

The astonishing pace of development we are witnessing across Etobicoke offers an exceptional opportunity to build social infrastructure — the relationships, networks, programs and places that can bring us together to gather and connect, to support each other and to respond when things go wrong; to celebrate the tiny victories that infuse our days with joy and make our lives meaningful.

We need to ask our political leaders to leverage this significant development to protect and increase access to vital social infrastructure in our neighbourhoods — the parks, the community centres, the local cafés, the libraries. The places that connect us. Places like Mabelle Park.

As we ready ourselves for a surprise election to uncover who will lead our great, yet troubled city through the next few years of growth, challenge and change, I hope we'll choose a candidate with the foresight and vision to fight for social infrastructure in our neighbourhoods. The city we long for is at hand — all we need is each other.