Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
This bold sign near one of the picnic areas in Sunnybrook Park warmly welcomes visitors before sternly laying out the conditions of play. No cycling on hills? No Frisbee without a permit? No kites? Since when? With the busy summer season approaching, are by-law enforcement officers going to be ticketing kids for playing catch or riding their bikes in the park? Fortunately, it looks more like the sign makers are even less familiar with the parks by-law (PDF) than most people.
Of the eight listed prohibitions—complete with handy Toronto Municipal Code references for easy lookup—only four are accurate reflections of the Municipal Code: no campfires, unleashed dogs, tents, or signs without permits. One more is correctly characterized on the sign but points to the wrong section of the Code: the prohibition on large groups that the sign claims is contained in section 608-12. That section actually prohibits amplifiers and loud speakers (though it is mercifully silent on the topic of loud singers or loud shirts). That leaves three prohibitions which are backed up by the full legal force of nothing more than the paint on the sign, despite the fact that each one quotes an official-looking by-law.
Ball playing and frisbee by permit only. The cited section of the Parks by-law—608-04—reads, "While in a park, no person shall be in possession of or use a firearm, air gun, cross bow, bow and arrow, axe, paint guns or offensive weapon of any kind unless authorized by permit." While bureaucrats and those familiar with the history of flying discs may protest that a Frisbee could be used as an offensive weapon, it's a safe bet that the nice people at Wham-O would disagree on the maiming potential of their plastic toys.
In fact, the words "Frisbee" and its non-trademarked cousin "flying disc" don't appear anywhere in chapter 608. The only time "ball" appears is in section 608-18, where it specifically refers to golfing. No kids, you don't need a permit to throw a Frisbee or play catch with your friends in the park.
This rule is probably referring to the sports fields at the top of the park, about a kilometre away. But the wording is definitely too broad, especially since the sign is beside a picnic area where people are likely to be playing ball or Frisbee.
Cyclists must dismount on hills. The actual text in section 608-24 reads, "No person shall enter, walk, or play upon a designated area for tennis in a park, except in accordance with the posted rules and regulations." So unless those hills are designated areas for tennis, there's no reason why you can't ride your bike on them. The section of the by-law that deals with cycling is 608-29, and it doesn't say anything about dismounting on hills.
Kites or model aircraft prohibited. While section 608-19 does prohibit powered models, it says nothing about kites. A separate section of the by-law, 608.25, sets out some sane rules for flying them but doesn't prohibit them altogether.
In all, the sign gets half of the references or rules themselves wrong. Remember when the only signs in Toronto parks said "Have a nice day" or "Please walk on the grass"? While these two rules were never written into the Municipal Code, they were common sense reminders that most people had no trouble following.
Photos by Val Dodge.
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What the...?
T O R O N T O - The town fun forgot.
Dedicated readers of IllegalSigns.ca will not be surprised at all that city staff can get little things like what's legal and what's not wrong. That said, this is beyond failure to enforce existing regulations — this sign got drafted, ordered, delivered, and installed without anyone saying, "Wait, there's no such thing as a frisbee permit!"
Inquiries about this sign would probably be good for a few hilarious articles...
It's come to this???
What happened to the good old days when the only sign said "Please Walk On The Grass"?
Re Frisbee and ball playing, there is this:
§ 608-17. Organized sports or activities.
While in a park, no person shall:
A. Arrange or engage in an organized sport or activity, unless authorized by permit;
B. Interfere with an organized sport or activity authorized by permit; or
C. Utilize a designated area without a permit where it is posted to prohibit or restrict such use.
DESIGNATED AREA — An area defined or constructed for a specific use that may include posted conditions.
ORGANIZED SPORT OR ACTIVITY — A sport, game or activity pre-planned by a group or organization whether or not formally constituted and whether or not the players or members wear uniforms.
POST or POSTED:
A. Refers to the erection or presence of permissive, regulatory, restrictive, warning or prohibitive signs.
B. “Posted area” means an area where the signs are erected.
It's a dumb sign but people get the signs they deserve...Of course there isn't a by-law cop coming around to make sure that your group of 24 doesn't turn into a group of 26 or that you haven't arranged an organized sport or activity. This is just for the people who try to monopolize public space.
Ridiculous. That sign is offensive.
"People get the signs they deserve"
Ya! Take that all you frisbee playing kids! Why don't you go swimming instead. Oh wait, you can't.
How ignorant can a person be? Green Sulfus us a pretty good example with his comments.
"This is just for the people who try to monopolize public space."
Public space should be momopolized. I love seeing people outside enjoying themselves. Are we really such a bunch of pent up stiffs in this city as the rest of the country would define us?
The city of Toronto is a fucking joke. I'm truly ashamed to say that I was born and raised here. I loved this city once.
We can all safely ignore this sign - as offensive as it is. There aren't even any by-law enforcement officers keeping bikes off the sidewalks downtown, so I sincerely doubt they will be hanging around Sunnybrook.
If the City pays as much attention to parks bylaws as it does to signs, we're golden.
Jaymo: I've tried to use my local park on Sunday afternoons when a particular group of guys decides the entire field is their's to play a game of soccer on. No permits but they do the same thing every Sunday afternoon. It means I can't go out and throw my frisbee around with my kid, nor can the kids who might like to play a less aggressive game of soccer do that...It's just a matter of fairness. If the guys who take over the soccer field only used part of it, then all the best to them but these signs are because of unreasonable people like that.
Your local park is one thing, but Sunnybrook is a big space. Find another patch of grass or get there first.
actually, the Frisbee permit issue is this:
Toronto Sport and Social and Toronto Ultimate Club spend lots of money booking fields across the city.
Permits are required so other people can't start playing football or catch or frisbee on areas booked for things like Ultimate Frisbee.
a poorly written sign, but that point is kind of important.
of course, only fools (read: city of toronto employees) create a NO NO NO sign to remind us why this city's in complete ruin ;)
Have you forwarded this to the City of Toronto?
What about if i wanted to organize an uprising complete with Molotovs and AK's? Do i need a permit for that?
You need a permit for "still photography"?
If I had a picnic planned for 30 friends, I'd designate 24 of them as picnickers, and have 6 friends volunteer to be "passers-by". When the cops show up to taser us, we'd just say we "don't know those other 6" (or that it is actually two parties of 24 and 6, separate, but intermingled).
:-)
Tuds
Relax everyone. Obviously the park staff forgot to take down their April Fools day sign.
... at least that would be my excuse when they arrest me for playing frisbee.
the sign looks pretty flimsy, just tear it down since it's obviously a bunch of bullshit. This crap doesn't matter.
That's right City of Toronto...you lay the smack down hardcore...somebody's gotta do it
Lame. You can't even take a shortcut through the park at night. (Section 608-9). Doing so will subject you to a fine of up to $5000. (I wonder how often that by-law is enforced).
I used to ride through Sunnybrook quite frequently and the park is patrolled. I think I saw a patrol car in there 9/10 times I went through, mostly between about 6-9pm.
I also used to play ultimate frisbee there, and we've had to ask people to leave our field so we could get our game going on time, so I can see how there's a need to mention that, though it might be more useful to have that sign near the fields.
So... this place is basically where fun goes to die.
You're not allowed to have fun in Toronto - just work and consume.
This is far from exclusively a Toronto thing. We just have lame execution.
You guys have obviously never been to London. The rule list there is extensive. Here's a photo we took of the rules when we were in Regent park this summer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liamdynes/1844340143/
It's the lame execution that makes it so uniquely Toronto; it's one of the few civic contests in which we really can beat all comers.