You've likely never been inside Snider Park. Here's why | Opinion

Snider Park, on Bank Street, is finally open for more than a handful of hours each day. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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One of my favourite children’s stories is Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, which tells of a Giant who builds a high wall around his beautiful garden so the neighbourhood children can’t play in it.

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Ottawa, it turns out, has had its own inaccessible garden — minus the villain — at Snider Park.

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For those unfamiliar with it, Snider Park is a beautiful little urban park on Bank Street, between Laurier and Slater. It is cobblestoned and boasts flowers and herbs and fescue, colourful murals, benches, picnic tables, strings of patio lights, a small performance stage, chalkboards and a coffee kiosk. It’s an ideal spot in which to enjoy an al fresco lunch.

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But if you’ve walked by it this summer, there’s a good chance you haven’t been able to get inside.

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That’s because Snider Park kept what might generously be described as bygone banking hours — from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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And on Sundays, forget it. It’s been closed.

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That worked out to just under 30 hours a week. The rest of the time — more than 80 per cent of the week — a prominent black metal fence with locked gates stood between the public and this small urban oasis.

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Throughout the summer, Snider Park on Bank Street has mostly been closed to the public. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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And that problem was what I was going to write about here.

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When it launched Snider Park in June, the Centretown BIA, which operates the space, said this on its website: “Cities need places where people can simply exist. Places to meet up with friends. Grab a coffee. Work outside for an hour. Listen to music. Attend a community event. Slow down for a moment between destinations.”

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These ‘third spaces,’ the BIA continued, “are essential to healthy, connected communities. They support mental well-being, encourage social connection, create safer and more active streets, and help downtown neighbourhoods feel alive beyond office hours.”

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I wasn’t sure how “beyond office hours” jibed with the park’s 10-3 schedule, but the frustrating part was that the BIA was right. Snider Park is exactly the sort of space downtown Ottawa needs.

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I visited the park a few times recently, and found numerous people doing precisely what the BIA hoped they would. One office worker, Sabrina Lafontaine, said she liked the space for a very straightforward reason: “There are no other places around here to sit. It’s the only place to enjoy the weather.”

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Bingo.

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Another, Émilie Marineau, comes to the park two or three times a week, usually at lunchtime.

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Marineau also lives in the neighbourhood, and didn’t understand why a park should close in the middle of the afternoon. Why not leave it open until 11 p.m., she wondered, like an actual park?

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She has a balcony where she lives, but recognizes that not everyone is so fortunate.

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“For a lot of people,” she says, “their terrace is the park.”

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Bingo again.

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There is an important distinction, however. Snider Park is a park in name, but it isn’t a City of Ottawa park.

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The land is owned by Morguard, a real-estate firm that allows the BIA to use it rent-free. The BIA pays for hydro, insurance and upkeep.