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When my husband and I were looking for a house in 2010, we were thrilled to find one we could afford that had everything on our list. One thing worried us, though: Directly across the street was an elementary school?s field and daycare play space, and directly behind the backyard was a playground and splash pad. We wondered about traffic and noise. In the end, we decided we would live with it, and bought the house.
We were right to think carefully about these issues, because it turns out there is plenty of traffic (at school drop-off and pick-up times) and plenty of noise, too (I?d never noticed before how much kids scream when they play!). But, we figured, that?s the price you pay for choosing to live near green space. You have to live with it. Or, it seems, you can complain. Which is what some Toronto residents did recently?and they managed to get a bunch of soccer-playing toddlers kicked out of their local parkette.
A kids’ sport program called Sportball was asked to stop holding its classes at Toronto’s Lynndale Parkette right in the middle of the program after some residents complained. Their chief beefs" The sound of whistles, increased traffic and the parking taken up by parents’ cars. The city told Sportball that the company had to find a new location, and that it, as well as parents, would incur a fine if they returned. The program has since found a new park nearby, but many parents in Toronto’s east end and Beach...