By Pepper Parr
May 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Have the people at Parks and Recreation taken dancing lessons?
We should know by next weekend if the signs are going to make a difference
They have had to pivot on almost every project they have on the go.
The sign is certainly in the right place.
When the Gazette reported that there were large numbers of people gathering inappropriately we mentioned that there were no signs in place.
We reported that story on Monday (it did great things for our readership) – this afternoon we got a response from Chris Glenn who sent us three pictures of signs that are in place in the park.
Chris Glenn reported: “The signage is in place at SSP and other locations. Included a couple examples below.
The park ambassadors and other compliance monitoring / enforcement options are being discussed with council this week, primarily at the EICS meeting under the COVID verbal update. Will know more after this discussion.”
They are scrambling but they are on top of it. Realize that much of the communication between staff members is by cell phone from their homes.
The message is certainly clear enough. Add a couple of bylaw control officer ans the small crowds will disappear.
I found it frustrating watching the council meeting today and learning the Halton Police will not be monitoring the behaviour of residents in our larger parks as the weather improves and the crowds appear. Sadly, the limited powers of the by-law officers and the park ambassadors will do little to deter the actions of some of our residents who feel it is their right to ignore the messages on signing etc. We are aware of an issue several weeks ago at a skate board park and the verbal abuse of one of our park ambassadors.
We have relatives living in Toronto and those folks have been relieved to see mounted police officers riding through many of their parks to spread the messages of social distancing etc. Halton residents should be asking why our Halton police force does not feel controlling the crowds in our parks to be a priority during these difficult times.
Signs,signs everywhere a sign !!!!!! Seriously we have been in a pandemic for over a year ,people do not need more signs to ignore . For a City Council that declared a climate emergency with no input from their constituents ,you would think sign pollution would be the last thing they want to enforce
Signs will not be good enough. People who decide that they don’t want to wear masks or practice social distancing don’t tend to read or follow suggestions on a sign, especially signs with too much information.
Unfortunately “park ambassadors” have to be present and if necessary have the authority to escort those not following the rules out of the park, or public space.
Science has proven that one dose of the vaccination does not protect from 3 of the 4 variants that are now present in Ontario. If nothing else, we have to be more prudent in keeping safe, and not let our guard down.