Advocates rally to reverse vehicle access ban to High Park

It’s been just over two years since High Park began implementing its car-free plan and now residents are rallying for the return of vehicles in the beloved public space.

Advocates are calling on the City to reverse the changes that were put in place during the pandemic preventing vehicles from entering the park during weekends and holidays. They say it’s making it harder for people to enjoy the park, especially seniors and those with disabilities.

“The attendance in the park has dropped considerably,” said Diane Buckell, part of the group High Park for All who has organized a petition calling for the changes to be reversed. “Everyone in the park, the restaurant has lost customers – it’s empty on the weekends – the zoo has noticed a big departure from people coming down, the nature centre has suffered losses.”

The changes are part of the City’s ‘High Park Movement Strategy’ and currently drivers are only allowed into the 400-acre park on weekdays and parking spaces have also been reduced by 50 per cent.

Advocates say the City plans to close the park to vehicular traffic seven days a week starting next year.

“People are not even coming back during the week, because of the way they made the one-way system on the roads it’s difficult to get into the park and they’ve taken out 360 parking spaces,” said Buckell.

Advocates say their biggest concern is that the park is not accessible for seniors, those with disabilities and families with young kids trying to access the park’s amenities.

“We’re standing here on Bloor Street. No parent is going to pull up here at 5:30 on a winter evening and drop their kid with their hockey bag and send them 500 meters down to play hockey. It gets dark at five,” said rally attendee Marshall Leslie.

“I have my mother who is 85 years old and she has hip issues. A tradition for us is we like to go to church just not far from here and go to the Grenadier [Cafe] for brunch on the weekend, but we can’t do that anymore,” added George Rheakos.

Advocates say the rally isn’t just about reopening roads and that they want to find solutions that work for everyone, whether it’s adjusting parking options, adding more accessible parking spots, introducing special access passes or providing the shuttle bus service year-round.

“I’ve lived in the west end of Toronto my whole life and have spent many happy hours in High Park. And up until these last changes came through, we had a very happy marriage of bikes, cars and pedestrians, everyone could come and go at their leisure,” explained Ted Swain. “Now, since these changes have come in, the problems we have with petitions and people complaining about it, we never had that before. An attraction should be used, we shouldn’t be putting up things that say you can’t come here.”

The High Park Access For All petition has received over 20,000 signatures. Organizers say they have tried to contact city councillors but have had a hard time receiving a response.

“I did get one response from the mayor’s office and I’ve written hundreds of letters. And when I responded to them they wanted to see me, when I said I was available anytime I didn’t hear back from them and that was three months ago,” said Buckell.

The Leader Spirit reached out to local councillor Gord Perks but has yet to receive a response.

Residents say they are planning another rally on Saturday, November 2.