Councillor wants inner-city parks cleaned up more frequently

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An inner-city councillor wants to see a change in policy that would make places where children gather a priority for parks staff tasked with cleaning up discarded needles and other hazards.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) said the motion came out of a meeting with community daycares in the Central Park and University of Winnipeg area, where she learned that children were playing in parks littered with used needles and weapons, including knives and machetes.

“These are little kids — very young kids — that are visiting these parks, and it’s very concerning to have this stuff around,” she said Friday.

Gilroy’s motion, seconded by deputy mayor Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River), asks the city public service to report back on the creation of a policy that would prioritize parks staff cleanups in parks, playgrounds and tot lots near daycares in “higher-needs areas,” as mapped out by the city.

Gilroy said she’d like to see park staff deployed to these areas first and more often.

The extra costs could come from the city or a partnership with community organizations or the province, she said.

“The need might be greater than one check a day (from parks staff),” she said. “The need, especially in some locations over others, might require several checks to ensure the safety of people within those parks.”

Areas such as Central Park play a unique role in the inner-city, Gilroy said. Homeless people using the grounds to hide personal belongings — such as weapons — prohibited from libraries, resource centres and other community spaces is a concern, exacerbated by the fact that many low-income families make use of their public play spaces because private yards are less common in the area.

“Within the inner city, you don’t have any extra space. They’re in buildings that don’t have extra space, so they really rely on our parks and our open spaces to play,” she said.

“That’s what’s different than maybe some daycares in a suburban setting, where they might have a yard or something where they can safely let the kids out into. We don’t.”

Community advocate Mitch Bourbonniere goes on community walks during the week with several groups and says that finding discarded needles in parks — particularly those near the rivers — is a frequent occurrence.

“If we’re going by parks, if we’re going by schools, daycares, we make an extra effort to have a good scan of what could be out there,” he said. “We’re always hyper-vigilant around public spaces and especially children’s spaces.”

Bourbonniere said Gilroy’s priority policy idea was interesting and he’d like to see the organizations he works with join forces with the city and receive more resources. Street-walk supplies aren’t cheap, he said — a pair of safe needle-disposal gloves can cost $100.

“If you’re resourcing them with equipment and funding, that is a good thing because, of course, we do more than needle pickup,” he said. “We’re picking up garbage, we’re recycling, but we’re also checking on folks that might be out there and we’re also keeping people safe.”

Winnipeg’s milder-than-normal winter might mean spring cleaning is coming sooner rather than later for city streets, Take Pride Winnipeg executive director Tom Ethans said.

Take Pride conducts a yearly “litter index,” which ranks how much detritus appears on city streets and sidewalks when the snow begins to melt before volunteers head out in crews to clean up.

“People could be going out in the first week of April, which would be the earliest ever,” he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca