Hockey in July? Council to debate street hockey ban at next

Staff asked to find out how big a concern playing ball in street is to residents

Thestar.com
June 20, 2016

It'll be the middle of summer, but Toronto city council will tackle a traditional winter pastime next month: road hockey.

The public works and infrastructure committee voted Monday to ask staff to compile some facts and figures - such as the number of 311 calls, and complaints about nets on the streets - which council can use in July to settle the controversial issue once and for all.

Last September, about 20 families on Esgore Drive in the Wilson Avenue and Avenue Road area were threatened with $90 fines from the city if they did not remove hockey and basketball from the street within 20 days.

The councillor who represents the neighbourhood, Christin Carmichael Greb, brought the issue to council, where it was picked up by the public works and infrastructure committee.

On Monday, she told the committee kids can play responsibly on the street.

'They're doing it anyway'

"You yell, 'Car!' You get out of the way," she said. "I'd rather see kids out there playing than inside on their iPads."

Staff have recommended that council leave the current ban on road hockey in place, because of safety and liability issues.

Council is expected to deal with the issue when it meets on July 12.

Ward 25 - Don Valley West Coun. Jaye Robinson, who chairs the public works and infrastructure committee, said after the meeting that council will actually have two issues to debate in July: Whether kids should be allowed to play ball on the street, and whether they should be allowed to leave their nets at the side of the road overnight.

"I'm a supporter of it," she said of street hockey. "We need to free the children, because guess what? They're doing it anyway."