'People taking initiative': Markham residents removing bags from basketball hoops

Angus Glen Community Centre is ground zero for a battle between residents and bureaucrats

Yorkregion.com
April 26, 2021
Jeremy Grimaldi

Everyone may not agree with the move, but one man in Markham is cheering.

Raoul Baumgartner, president of the York Region Silver Knights, said since yorkregion.com published a report about municipalities covering basketball hoops with plastic bags, he's been witnessing people removing them.

In the past 24 hours, he said bags have been removed at Aaniin Community Centre although they have already been replaced, and Angus Glen Community Centre.

Although he said he doesn't want to encourage the action and that everyone has to make their "own decisions about what is right," he also said he can't help but to smile when he saw the bags removed.

"I think people are taking the initiative for the goodness of kids," he said.

He said while out today he saw a man hitting golf balls on a field, a father and son playing catch, people hoping fences and children playing soccer on a football pitch.

"The wall has started to come down," he said, invoking the memory of the Berlin Wall. "The people are taking things back, they are seeing that morally and ethically it's not sustainable."

He further insisted though that he was not encouraging the action.

"Everyone has to take a decision based on their own paradigm," he added. "People have to decide what's right and wrong."

Earlier this week, in response to a request for comment about the bags, Markham council said it was following guidelines handed down from the province to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"If the province announces changes to these orders, services will be adjusted accordingly," wrote spokesperson Jennifer Yap. "The City of Markham continues to monitor and follow advice from public health officials at the federal, provincial and regional levels."

York Region council, meanwhile, asked the province to open community facilities to help children remain active.