Councillor Doug Ford’s plans to personally donate cash to upgrade city parks have been praised for their generosity.

They’re also raising questions as an election year approaches.

The issue is “dicey,” said Councillor Sarah Doucette, who has been raising money for High Park in her ward.

“It might, might, be seen as buying votes,” Doucette said. “On the other hand, it’s going to a very worthy cause.”

Ford, brother of scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford, announced in July that he would donate $50,000 to help revitalize 10 parks around the city — $5,000 for each park.

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That would be in addition to the $5,000 Ford gave to help with upgrades to Flagstaff Park in his Etobicoke North ward.

Ford repeated his $50,000 pledge while attending a community meeting recently in the Davenport ward of Councillor Cesar Palacio, a key player in the Ford administration who wants to improve the Geary Avenue Parkette and expand green space in the area.

In an interview, Ford said when he put up $5,000 in “seed money” for Flagstaff Park in his ward, corporate sponsors and the community got involved in the project.

He hopes to repeat that in mostly suburban wards that don’t have a lot of new development and thus don’t receive developer funds for community improvements under Section 37 of the Planning Act.

“My idea is similar to the High Park playground that burned down and everyone helped out. This is the same theory but what I’m donating is really just seed money, that’s all.”

“I think if you put seed money in and the community gets involved, you can leverage my $5,000, and go to corporate sponsors — the Home Depots, the Lowe’s, the Canadian Tires, and there’s a snowball effect,” Ford said. “And it brings the community together.”

Ford said besides Palacio, he has spoken to Councillor Vince Crisanti (Ward 1, Etobicoke North), a Ford loyalist. Ford added he also wants to make donations in Scarborough.

He stressed in the interview that he’s not running for re-election to council.

“By the way, I have no horse in this race. I’m not running. I honestly, sincerely want to help the community.”

Palacio said Ford’s comments at the community meeting about making donations were “totally unsolicited. No one solicited that.”

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Palacio added it was premature to talk about funding because first he wants to see if the city can lease some hydro corridor land to use for parkland.

Doucette said private donations “are great” but the question of donations from politicians is a tricky one.

“It’s very generous of him, and you never want to turn money away, but I think as a politician you do have to be a bit careful coming up to an election year,” she said.

Campaigning can begin in January for the next municipal election to be held Oct. 27, 2014.

A resident attending Palacio’s community meeting said that when Ford talked about donating personal funds, he followed up by saying he has no plans to run for re-election to council.

Ford has expressed interest in running for provincial office for the Progressive Conservatives, and Tory leader Tim Hudak hasn’t ruled out welcoming him as a candidate.

He plans to be heavily involved in his brother’s re-election campaign.

Davenport resident Helena Grdadolnik said the Geary Avenue Parkette — near Dupont St. and Ossington Ave. — needs work. Residents of the neighbourhood would strongly support an upgrade.

“It has decades old playground equipment, it’s rusty, the swings aren’t in good shape and there are a lot of kids in the area,” Grdadolnik.

Even so, Grdadolnik is cautious about private fundraising for the parks and said it’s important that the process for raising private donations be transparent and equitable.

“I’m kind of on both sides,” she said. “I can see both sides of the story. I think it would depend on the details.”

The city’s policy on private fundraising says donations to the city and its agencies must be given unconditionally, voluntarily and without any expectation of benefit.

Doucette said she would want to know the location of the parks that would receive donations from Councillor Ford.

Donations should go to the parks identified by city parks staff as being the neediest, she said.

Councillor Ford, who worked in the Ford family printing business before being elected in 2010, often talks about reducing the size and cost of government and contracting out services to reduce the burden on the taxpayer.

Two years ago, Ford gave a $1,000 personal cheque to a breakfast program co-ordinator after she appeared at budget committee to oppose cutting the program.

The co-ordinator was thankful while saying she believes every student nutrition program across the city should be protected.

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