NEWS

Let the kids play hockey, basketball on the road: councillor

OUTDOOR SPORTS: A city bylaw prohibits using hockey or basketball nets on roads, which a local councillor is trying to change.
OUTDOOR SPORTS: A city bylaw prohibits using hockey or basketball nets on roads, which a local councillor is trying to change.

Street basketball and road hockey may be childhood traditions for many Canadians, but they’re against the law in Toronto, something Ward 16 councillor Christin Carmichael Greb is trying to change.

In November, Carmichael Greb submitted a request to the Public Works & Infrastructure Committee to amend a city bylaw against “the obstructing, encumbering, damaging or fouling of any street” to allow basketball and hockey nets on some roadsides.

“Ward 16 is green space deficient,” Carmichael Greb wrote in her request. “There are very few places for local children to play outdoors.”

The request was submitted after a group of nine Esgore Drive residents received violation notices for leaving basketball and hockey nets on a public right of way in September.

Carmichael Greb said while she understands the city’s need to ensure pedestrian safety and prevent garbage pickup and snow removal delays, placing nets on the side of a road with no sidewalk should be an acceptable compromise.

“It’s difficult for a little kid to push a basketball net back and forth onto a driveway,” she told the Town Crier. “I wanted a way that we could make it easier for kids to be outside and stay active and keep the basketball and hockey nets off to the side.”

Carmichael Greb said she hopes to receive a response to her request in early 2016.