In attendance: Alice, Sonia, Monica, Govind, Neil, Nikki, Eban, Eunjoon

1. Family Skate Days
• The meeting began with a discussion of what worked well with family skate days and lessons learned for next year.
• It was suggested that we look to get donations of skates to build up a supply of skates to rent for next season.
• The arrangement made with Peter Leiss to have the ice flooded and scraped in time for family skate day was very successful and should be repeated. The request should be made to have ice maintenance done Sunday morning.
• In terms of the time of family skate day, there was general agreement that the time was good this year (1-3pm). However, a suggestion was made of moving the time to 11am-2pm, but this would require us to coordinate before the schedule is published to have public skating coincide with that time.
• It was also agreed that our group should continue to push for city rink staff to have expanded duties for activities like skate rentals and hot chocolate, etc.
• Partnering with Oliva Chow's office was successful in bringing out many people to the Skate Day as well as the fact that Chow's office paid for all the pizza and refreshments.
2. Alex Duff Pool and Building
• There was a short discussion about the continued desirability of expanding activities that are run out of Alex Duff Pool. It is a city-owned facility that is not being used to its potential.
• All members supported the transfer of one or more activities run by Recreation Staff at Bob Abate to Alex Duff.
• Bob Abate is a building which the city of Toronto pays rent to the Toronto District School Board, and the expansion of recreation activities using Alex Duff made sense to members at the meeting.
• Our group remains committed to expanding activities such as yoga, kids programming, etc. at Alex Duff.
3. Spring Clean Up Day - April 25th
• The Friends will be participating in the clean up of Christie Pits on Saturday April 25th starting at 10am (we will all meet at the splash pad in the centre of the park).
• This day will also be the first pizza oven day of the year, starting at noon.
• Alice will make a poster to advertise the clean-up and pizza
• Govind will arrange for the drop off of enough garbage bags for volunteers
• remember to bring your own garden/work gloves
4. Pizza Oven Nights
• We decided to begin weekly Pizza Nights starting May 1st
• Friday evening at the Pizza Oven, from 5pm-7pm
• our pizza nights will be listed in the events listing
• Monica will create a schedule for volunteers for certain Fridays
5. Community Garden Update
• Nikki and Neil provided an update on the people that they have spoken to so far about the permission process and the upcoming community meeting on March 25th at 7pm-9pm at Bob Abate
• The location that is proposed is in the south-west quadrant of the park north of the basketball courts and south of the swimming pool.
• Joe Pantalone will chair the meeting
• The committee has submitted its proposal
• There will be raised beds
• the committee will work with other groups to apply for grants
• Once the Friends of Christie Pits have a charity number, the community garden can use it.
• Nikki and Neil gave us some ideas of the many wonderful ideas and plan of the garden group.
6. Charitable Number
• Monica spoke in favour of continuing the application process for a charitable number
• it is a nine-month process
• She proposed a small update to the group's mission statement to reflect our interest in running a community kitchen, which was approved
• Alice, Govind and Monica agreed to get in touch with other groups to partner with until our own charitable number is approved.
7. Other updates
• We will be getting an accessible swing in our park thanks to Monica and Peter Leiss' discussions and cooperation
• There was a brief discussion of noise complaints from some neighbours of the park related to the festivals. The suggestion was to direct those people to the bylaw officer to enforce the requirements stated in the event permit.
• the splash pad will be renovated/remade this summer
• We have a continued need for more volunteers to serve on the steering committee

In attendance: Nicki, Neil, Monica, Caroline, Dawn, Govind, Alice, Eban

1. Community Garden
• Neil and Nicki updated the group on how things are going so far
• They have contacted the City coordinator
• A meeting of people interested in starting up the community garden was attended by 12 people.
• General discussion ensued about how to get new people involved
• Neil and Nicki asked if anyone had heard of any opposition to the community garden, and no one had ever heard any opposition
2. Oliva Chow - Family Day Skate with Jack and Oliva
• Suggestion to have it together on Sunday Feb 15, 2009
• No one had a problem with this, so we all agreed to set that date
3. Winter Fun - Volunteers - (now on February 15th)
• Neil and Wallace have volunteered
• Feb 7th - 11pm - 1pm - pizza at noon has now changed to Feb 15th
• Order Pizza - Dawn will take care of this
• Hot Chocolate - Monica, Dawn will bring Milk
• Tobagganing - Crazy hat contest
• Campfire - Monica will get permits - Govind will get wood
• Dawn will make flyer to advertise
4. Snack Bar
• The City is intent on getting a community group in to run the snack bar
• Kim Brown noted that this is a policy that will be instituted in all parks in coming years
• Friends of Christie Pits Park are allowed to use the kitchen
• The city suggested that FCPP run the snack bar
• we felt this is way beyond our capacity at the moment
• Monica summarized the situation and that it seems that the city is going in this direction
• Govind made the point that the city should be carrying out this work
• Eban made the point that if FCPP is a charity then we could raise more money
• Eban said it is completely doable, but it might cost a few hundred/few thousand
• We require skates to rent out, looking for donations
5. Donations/Grants
• Monica noted that there are many grants that we should apply for so that we can fund new projects
• Discussion about how to get Bob Abate to run events out of Alex Duff
6. Discussion turned to applying for charitable status
• Group was in agreement that this was something that Monica should look into and apply for on our behalf, if it wasn't too expensive. (more than a few hundred dollars)

The next meeting will be Monday, 16 February 2009, 7pm at Alex Duff Pool Building.

In attendance: Nicki, Amanda, Neil, Monica, Caroline, Dawn, Melissa, Sarah, Govind

1. Parks Update
• Monica suggested the idea of Tennis Courts for the underused area near the basketball courts
• Monica talked to Peter Leiss, about this and other issues
• more lights?
• if we want something in the area to make it better utilized, we should come up with the idea, before something is decided by the city without us
• suggestion made to door knock to spread information and get input
• Benches
• City doesn't want to give us benches in front of Alex Duff because of vandalism of previous/other benches
• Amanda suggested logs as a possible alternative
• Question of where to get logs and who could get them. No one volunteered to follow up on this
• Vandalism
• someone or some people broke into and created a smoke problem in the Alex Duff Pool Area, using the wood stove
• city concerned of possible fire, and would therefore rather not have the wood stove there
• Security system has been installed in Alex Duff and hopefully there will not be such issues in the future
• Homelessness
• Monica and parks staff working with Streets to Homes
• Ice Rink Update
• Monica mentioned that she has been pushing to have our rink resurfaced before Family Skate days
2. Events Update
• Family Skate Days (dates/volunteers)
• Dawn gave us an update
• because of the rain it wasn't well attended, but first week was well attended
• it is not as organized, maybe because at pizza nights there was no distraction like a skating rink
• the building was nicely decorated
• We need more volunteers to help out
• Monica reported on the snack bar, and said that we have not been able run it because there was no permit granted
• Sarah said that a snack bar has been very positive at other skating locations
• Food is great for community engagement, because staff can go from being "No" people to being 'good' guys who give them treats too.
• We had a good discussion about supporting the passing of control of the snack bar to parks and recreation staff
• The group agreed that we did not want to incorporate as a non-profit and then run the snack bar for the next decade. We would rather have parks staff run it. Sarah said that the staff could run it without any extra staff.
• Monica asked if we wanted her to send an email on our behalf to Councilor Pantalone
• We supported that Parks and Rec staff run a full-time snack bar, from 1-3pm for our Family Skate days
• we all should write letters to the councilor to support this option.
• Winterlude
• The group decided to organize a small event in beginning of February.
• February 7th was set as the date, and the afternoon was the general time
• Need for volunteers/committee
• Need for many more people to help organize Winterlude and other activities
3. Community Garden - New Volunteers and Coordinator (Neil Dallhoff and Nicole Rochon)
• Amanda first gave a short introduction to Community Gardens and Toronto Policy in this regard
• Difference between an allotment garden and a community garden
• Community gardens can be started anywhere a community is interested and can get the land
• Toronto is pro-community garden
• Need to get permission to use the land
• Need to form a core group to put together the proposal to use the land
• Key issue is that there is no less than 5 people who are a stable group
• Need a maintenance plan, high stress on esthetics, and design
• Then they hold a community consultation
• The city then actually gives us tools and shed
• Get groups like kids, retirees, etc. involved
• Neil and Nicki are willing to lead the project
• Everyone was very happy to have Neil and Nicki join us and fully supported them in setting up a community garden in the park
• Govind would give them names of some people who had expressed interest in a community garden in the past

The next meeting will be Monday, 19 January 2009, 7pm at Alex Duff Pool Building.

In attendance: Amy, Alice, Dawn, Monica, Govind, Eban, Dave, Annie

1. Website - Dawn reported
• all sections have some content now
• always need more pictures
• everyone said that they were really impressed with the website
2. Fundraising - Monica
• We need to continue to raise money
• there was a short discussion about what we needed the money for
• there was consensus that we need to continue to think about our goals for the next year so that we can be clear about what it is for which we are raising money
• suggestion to yearly revaluate our goals - September 22, 2009.
• we have collected $451 during pizza night and pumpkin night
• expenses - $180 pizza supplies, hot-chocolate and marshmellows
• discussion about how to supply drinks and snacks
• Monica pointed out that Bob Abate has a kitchen with supplies that we can request to use for events
• one goal - Alice says a float for Santa Claus parade
• We will put out a jar for donations during family skating days
• No one will be forced to donate, all voluntary
3. Events
• Pumpkin Parade was a great success
• we need to remember to bring our cameras for next events
• question of whether it should go longer or shorter was discussed
• most people thought it was long enough - at 1 1/2 hours
• Amy said that events for older kids should be planned too
• Next time we should post an ending time eg. 6pm - 8pm.
• Govind had an idea of risers to create a pumpkin pyramid for next year
• Alice said we should move the logs into position before it gets dark
• Have on hand ready-made sticks? not necessary
• Eban asked if we had insurance, and we did because we went through Bob Abate for the permit
• Govind suggests we purchase reusable equipment that could be used for events
• Monica said we can use the equipment from Bob Abate, or use their funds for equipment
• Dufferin Grove skate staff will come to run skating at our rink this year
• Monica will meet with them this Friday, and update us
• Should we arrange for figure skating on the rink?
• People should go to www.cityrinks.ca to cheque out an execellent site
• Times for pleasure skating on Sunday is 1-5pm
• Under the pool are lots of rooms that could be used
• Winter Festival
• We should plan a party day to coincide with the Winter festival
• toboggan day - Monica suggests to piggy-back along with the staff
• Alice suggests that we ask Fiesta (Joe) for a X-mas tree for Alex Duff
4. Park Update
• accessible swing installed by end of the year
• proposal for an accessible park - Monica emailed Pantalone's office, and hasn't yet heard back from the councilor
• safety/crime prevention - Police do go through the park 4 times a day
• Alex Duff building will have new security system installed
• bike/foot path request - the bike path was installed to move more people through underused areas.

The next meeting will be Monday, 15 December 2008, 7pm at Alex Duff Pool Building.

In attendance: Monica, Oona, Geza, Peter, Anni, Jacqueline, Dawn, Govind, Alice, Melissa, Dave, Zeen

1. Park Update (swing, bike path, grass)
• Baby swing was damaged, but fixed within one day after talking to Sonia from Joe Pantalone's office
• Monica updated the group on the renovation of the paths
• Monica talked to Peter Leiss
• bike paths may be changed in the future from asphalt to gravel
• Alice said that in future they should be remade with esthetic considerations in mind
• Accessible swings for Christie Pits - we will get one soon
• future goal should be to get a foam mat, so that swing is wheelchair accessible
• need someone to push this forward - Volunteers should contact Monica
• Govind will put it out on the list, seeking a volunteer
• Monica mentioned that the splash pad will be re-done in 2008
• We can suggest a design if we can find someone to coordinate design ideas
• Dave mentioned a park at Lakeshore and Twelfth street - in Mississauga nice splash pad for ideas
• suggestions to use the Dufferin Park design as an inspiration
2. Website Update
• Dawn gave a website update
• working on the events calendar
• Dawn needs people to help with content - please contact her
• more pictures wanted
• pictures of the park through the seasons
• Discussion of how to deal with requests to add neighbourhood events
• it was decided to keep our events and Bob Abate's on the main calender
• Neighbourhood Events section for the website, can be created in the future
3. Noise By-Laws, Permits
• Jacqueline mentioned problems with noise from Summer festivals
• How long should the festivals go on?
• General discussion ensued about festivals and noise
• It was suggested that Jacqueline do research into the bylaws and people responsible and we would support her by signing a letter
4. Events Update (Pizza Nights, Pumpkin Parade, Christmas?)
• Pizza Nights - selling out the pizza, huge response, wonderful success
• This friday is the last Pizza night - October 24th
• Pumpkin Parade - Fire pit for the day November 1st
• We need to bring our own wood
• Skids from Fiesta Farms for free
• Alice will approach Fiesta Farms for firewood
• Melissa reported on the Pumpkin Event
• At Dusk - 6pm
• Ad went into the Gleaner - bring your pumpkins already carved
• Alice and Melissa will bring pumpkins to set them up so people know where to go
• City will pick up the pumpkins after they are done
• Sunday cleanup crew - volunteers wanted to go through and pick them up
• Winter Events
• Need to book the time already for the rink on Sunday in winters
• work together with Bob Abate to support their events
• Sunday is "Family Day"
• Dufferin Grove staff help organize the rink, nice to have their help
• Holiday Season Events discussion
• tree lighting day
• Wish tree - snowflakes on windows are ideas
• We decided to decorate Alex Duff
• Events committee is formed - you can join, contact Monica
5. Fundraising
• Govind, Monica, and Iban need to deposit the money
• We still need to fill the Fundraiser position
• We need to be more organized in collecting the money
• How to fund the website?
• pizza sales have raised a good sum
• continue to solicit donations to fund 2 years website operation
6. Community Updates (Palmerston Daycare, Bob Abate, Koreatown BIA)
• Palmerston Daycare is doing stuff in the park now
• Koreatown BIA - We should thank them for their contributions
• Streetlights on Bloor are under Koreatown BIA jurisdiction -fyi

The next meeting will be Monday, 17 November 2008, 7pm at Alex Duff Pool Building.

In attendance: Monica, Govind, Alice, Melissa, Amy, Maya, Dawn, Carolyn, Matt, John, Dave, Sonia, Donna

1. Welcome
• Monica welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. History
• Govind reviewed what the group accomplished in the first year.
• He stated that the group participated in the park clean-up day, set-up a mailing list and website, organizing a summer celebration, meeting with the parks supervisor and Joe Pantalone’s office, taking care of the new trees, and a number of other activities.
3. Draft Mission Statement
• People generally liked the Mission Statement.
• There was some concern that it was too long.
• Govind suggested that people underline the sentences that they liked the most and he would put together a shorter version with those sentences.
• People underlined sentences and handed in their copies.
4. Future of the Park brainstorm
• There was a very lively discussion about what people would like to see in the park and what the park should become.
• Some ideas were a jogging track, a community garden, a farmers’ market, amphitheatre, band stage, skate park, bbq family picnic area, piazza, and splash pad improvements.
5. Elections held and the following positions filled:
• Chairperson: Monica
• Secretary: Govind
• Treasurer: Iban
• Parks and Recreation Liaison: Monica
• Events Committee: Melissa, Alice, Monica, Dawn, Amy
• Community Liaison / Parks and Forestry Liaison: Alice
• Communications Coordinator: Dawn
• Fundraiser: still to be filled

The Meeting was adjourned at 4pm.
The next meeting will be Monday, 20 October 2008, 7pm at Alex Duff Pool Building.