Location: Outside Riverdale Farm, Winchester St.
Date photo taken: 20 October 2013
It's strange to see a parking meter in the middle of a park but some of Toronto's best loved green spaces now have them.This one is outside Riverdale Farm. There are two more in High Park and the Toronto Botanical Garden also has one. These parking meters have been specially programmed to accept donations and issue receipts. While kids love dropping coins in the machine, they also accept credit cards. The money is processed through the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to making the city's parks better. Money raised is passed along to the location at which it was collected. Donations can also be made online and can be targeted to support a specific park or project, to expanding Toronto's tree canopy, or be assigned to a general fund to support projects as needed.