Montgomery's Inn, among other Toronto museums, are slated for closure...

Hume: City museum closures loom

November 12, 2011

In a city consumed by the cost of things, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of things.

Torontonians will be reminded of the difference later this month when Mayor Rob Ford unveils the city budget.

Among the measures included will be the closure of four of the city’s 10 museums. Sources tell the Star that those chosen to be shut are the Market Gallery, Gibson House, Montgomery’s Inn and Zion Schoolhouse.

The justification will be the nearly $1 million in savings, a tiny fraction of a city budget that in 2010 stood at $9.2 billion.

For thousands of residents who visit and use these facilities, the impact will be more about the quality of their lives than the depth of their pockets.

The 10 museums operated by the City of Toronto Culture Division cost taxpayers about $5.3 million yearly. The institutions themselves raise $1.3 million through rentals, admissions and gift shop sales.

Annual attendance is about 250,000.

Except for the Market Gallery, located downtown in the St. Lawrence Market, the venues slated for closure are in the former North York and Etobicoke.

Montgomery’s Inn has been a landmark in Etobicoke since the 1840s, when the current building was constructed. It is one of the former borough’s few surviving links to its past.

Zion Schoolhouse, which was built just two years after Confederation, remained in service until 1955. The modest but elegant structure on Finch St. E. was built by families in what was then the farming community of L’Amoreaux.

Gibson House, an impressive 1850s Georgian mansion west of Yonge St., north of Park Home Ave., is also in the former North York.

Though shuttering these attractions is unlikely to stir up the same sort of outrage as did Ford’s threats to close Toronto public libraries, it will inflict further damage on a sector already under pressure.

“Heritage is not gravy,” insists Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21). “These museums are local community hubs. . . the unsung gems of our city. They offer vigorous programs for school kids. But this administration has made it clear it wants some very, very deep cuts to arts and heritage.”

As Mihevc also points out, the city has no plans yet about what to do with these historic buildings once they’re closed. Unless they are to be abandoned and left to fall apart, they will have to be sold to the private sector or maintained by the city, which costs money.

“I think the city will try to sell them,” says Mihevc. “But no one wants to see these iconic buildings turned into bars or restaurants. That would be disastrous.”

In the case of the Market Gallery, founded in 1979 as “the official exhibition space and storage of the city’s permanent art collection,” closure would mean significantly reduced public access to Toronto’s material history.

However, unless Ford is prepared to put city-owned artworks on the block, killing the gallery won’t leave the city with any saleable assets.

Culture has never figured prominently in official Toronto; the major arts institutions in this city depend on federal and provincial funding as well as private philanthropy and the box-office. Even the city’s museums receive $430,000 from Queen’s Park every year.

Perhaps the most serious long-term threat of closing these civic institutions is that Torontonians will lose faith in the city’s cultural sector, and stop contributing the cash and artifacts on which museums depend.

“It will breach the integrity of the city museums system,” Mihevc charges, “leading to a lack of trust among potential donors, funders and partners across the 10 sites.”

- Toronto Star, November 12, 2011

Archived Article: Montgomery's Meadow Native Wildflower Planting Project

MONTGOMERY'S MEADOW NATIVE WILDFLOWER PLANTING PROJECT

Building on the City of Etobicoke's success of the 1996 Communities in Bloom competition whereby the city was recognized nationally for its Community Involvement and Environmental awareness, the Montgomery's Meadow wildflower planting was intended to be an experimental and learning site for future naturalized native meadow plantings. The plan was to plant approximately 12,000 wildflower plugs of a variety of suitable indigenous native species encompassing an area of nearly 2,000 square metres. This planting was to be performed by organized groups of volunteers including the Etobicoke Horticultural Society, the Montgomery Rate Payers Association, Girl Guides, Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, Our Lady of Sorrows School and the community. The success of Phase One surpassed our expectations and has led to great enthusiasm to move forward with Phase Two.

Our local government budgets are being cut each year. We, as citizens, can be proactive by becoming involved in environmental initiatives. Etobicoke is fortunate in our parks and forestry department is encouraging and supportive, and give of their own time to assist with the many projects that the community has undertaken.

Montgomery's Meadow is situated within Central Park, just south of Montgomery's Inn (Dundas Street West and Islington Ave.). The site was difficult to manage from a Parks Operations perspective and was identified as a desirable area to be naturalized. As well as Montgomery's Inn, the site is also contiguous to a well-used section of the City bicycle/pedestrian path system. Although the site is located within the valley lands of the Mimico Creek, the recessed exposure of the site affords great learning opportunities for area school children, local citizens, as well as habitat creation for wildlife within the valley.

Replacing the turf with native vegetation would permit the Mimico Creek to act as an ecological link with other habitat restoration projects. In this way we could provide some meadow habitat for rabbits and voles and song birds at all seasons. We also hoped to keep overwintering butterfly chrysalises and other insects.

Native plant selection is in keeping with the historical context of the site and describes a typical meadow in this area at time of settlement. All of the plants we used were native to Southern Ontario and most reflect local genetic adaptations. In this way we hoped to preserve locally specific species of wildflowers.

The project also provided an opportunity to promote the values of natural communities to the public. Familiarity with the native plant communities in our neighbourhoods encourages an appreciation of the inherent beauty and diversity. It encourages an accommodation of these native plants in places where we live.

The goals of the project therefore were to:

1.        Enhance the natural environment through the planting of native wildflowers.

2.        Promote community stewardship. Protecting and nurturing our natural areas provides the community with a sense of place and ownership, resulting in pride and satisfaction.

3.        Become a model demonstration site of different techniques of clearing, planting and maintenance.

Canada Trust through their AFriends of the Environment Foundation gives organizations grants for environmental projects. The Etobicoke Horticultural Society, as a non profit organization and lead partner offered to apply to Canada Trust for a grant of $5,000.00 for the native plant Aplugs. These were purchased from Otter Valley Native Plants and included Swamp Milkweed, Butterfly Milkweed, Monarda fistulosa, Penstemon digitalis, Columbine, Purple Stemmed Aster, Great Blue Lobelia, Geranium, Woodland Sunflower, Carex pensylvanica, Switch Grass, and Rudbeckia hirta to name a few. Native plant seed had previously been collected by others and given to the Humber College School of Horticulture and the Etobicoke Parks Department Greenhouses where seedlings were also grown. Jack in the Pulpits, May Flowers and other native plants were donated. The Etobicoke Parks & Forestry Division also provided forestry staff to assist in preparing the site.

The Meadow was divided into two areas:

1.        An area for late summer-blooming prairie-type flowers which would stand through the winter and be mown in mid-spring.

2.        An area of spring blooming flowers which would be mown in late summer. A yearly mowing is necessary to maintain the meadow-nature of the site.

In late April 1997 the turf was removed by a combination of processes including black plastic and wood chips. Within eight weeks the turf under the plastic was dead and we were ready to get started. In early June, a teacher from Etobicoke Collegiate Institute used the project to involve his students in environmental studies and the students spent one to two hours each day for a week helping to prepare the site, plant shrubs and wildflower plugs (in grids of six plants, 10 inches apart.) The horticultural society organized two evening community planting events where members and the public were invited to bring a trowel and gloves and help plant. The press were invited and even local councillors came down. Approximately 36 volunteers showed up each evening and worked in teams. At the end of each evening the plants were watered and for the next few weeks the watering was done by the parks department staff. Our Lady of Sorrows School also came to help. In some areas mulch was used to keep unwanted weeds out while the young plants became established.

By September, three months after planting, many of the plants were in flower and most plants had survived our dry summer. The plant growth was beyond our expectations. Some knowledgeable local residents would even weed where necessary while strolling in the park. A bench was donated by Etobicoke Hort. Society so residents might rest awhile under the trees.

Planting for Phase Two has already started. A second grant was approved by Canada Trust for another $5,000 to extend our naturalized planting area; to install a protective split rail fencing around the area most liable to damage from foot traffic; build a Achipmunk wall to provide habitat to encourage an increase in the remnant chipmunk population of the area and erect interpretive signage. In September a community planting was organized one Saturday morning when twenty-eight adults and children planted another 1,400 plants. The chipmunk habitat was completed in November and more shrubs planted. The spilt rail fence was install in December.

Anyone who wishes to start another similar project and would like more information may contact Murray Cameron, Barbara Clarke, Cathy Faber, Debby Morton or Trish Murphy.