Help Our Community

WARNING: These pages may contain profanities which are found throughout our neighbourhood. These are not suitable for children.

Below are outlined some of the areas that are of concern to local residents. Please send in any photos you may have of problem areas to: grist-mill@lycos.com to be posted here.

Thanks to everyone for their continuing efforts to improve Grist Mill Park

Many local residents have come together by donating their time and sometimes materials to help improve Grist Mill Park. Through public meetings and meetings with the Community Action Advisory Committee, the residents of Grist Mill have made their concerns known to the East Gwillimbury Local Government. The vandalism has been painted over, repairs have been made and a plan has been put into place on how to continue to improve our local park. Below are some recent pictures highlighting the improvements made. The old pictures will remain as a reminder as to why community involvement is needed.

Playground repainted

Playground repainted

Playground repainted

Playground repainted

Garbage can chained to fence

Tree roots covered

Park benches repainted

Grist Mill Park Needs Help!

This park is located at the bend in Stegman Road. There is also an entrance from the Grist Mill Plaza. During the day this park is used by dozens of families who bring their children and pets to enjoy the outdoors. At night however this park is used primarily by teens, who have vandalized the playground equipment and left behind trask and debris. This park has no lighting whatsoever, and makes an ideal place for groups to congregate and go undisturbed. The playground equipment is covered in graffiti which includes profanities not suitable for the children who play there. Many of the children who play there are old enough to read and understand it. Drug paraphernalia has been found left behind. Beer and liquor cans and bottles are found tossed in the park down the hill and even smashed where children play. Garbage cans are not permanently fixed so they are often found tipped over or even rolled around the park, spilling their contents.

Arial Photo of Grist Mill Park

Vandalism of playground equipment

Litter in park

DumB aSS spray painted on playground equipment with Magic Mushgroom

Litter in park

Grafiti spray painted on playground equipment

Scrap metal dumped near park

DumB aSS spray painted on Platground Equipment with Magic Mushgroom

Litter in park

No garbage can at entrance

DumB aSS spray painted on Platground Equipment with Magic Mushgroom

Litter in park

No garbage can at entrance

More grafiti spray painted on playground equipment

Litter in park

Magic Mushrooms spray painted on playground equipment

Grafiti on park bench.

Drug parafanalia left under bench.

Fucker spray painted on playground equipment

Home made BONG for smoking drugs

Fucker spray painted on playground equipment

Grafiti spray painted on park bench.

Sisccors for making drug parafanalia left on bench.

Repairs to Playground.

Garbage can tipped over.

Ass Hole written on playground repairs

Rocks from playground sand used to throw at tipped over garbage can.

Damaged playground equipment

Please send in your pictures to be posted here.

Damaged playground equipment

What can we do about Grist Mill Park?

We have to create an action plan which will be presented to the Town of East Gwillimbury and the Region of York. The main concern here is safety. There are currently no lights in the park.Without any lighting in the park there is no way for anyone to even see, where they are going, who else may be in the park or what is happening in the park. This darkness gives the best possible cover to those who do not want to be seen. A request will be made that the park is safely lit and that it is included in community patrols by the Parks Department and the Police.

The equipment in the park is old and well used. The ageing equipment needs to be updated with more modern and safer equipment for our children to play on. The sand which surrounds the playground is old, hard, unkempt, and full of weeds and litter. More modern safety surfacing is available and should be used in place of this dirty, hard packed and weed growing sand. Update: May 10, 2005. Sand overturned to loosen hard packed areas.

There is a highly used walkway joining the two entrances to the park. This walkway has no surfacing, and so any time it rains it becomes muddy, or in the winter becomes dangerously slippery ice.

There are only a few trees, planted sparsely throughout the park and there is no buffer in the park between the Grist Mill Plaza and the neighbourhood properties which border the park or Mount Albert Sideroad which is at the north end of the park.

Community meetings will be held so that all residents can have a say in how this park can be improved. Please visit the Community Forum Page for more details on how to become involved.

Top