A tour of Toronto’s ridiculous park rules

In today’s Big Story Podcast, a sign telling dogs not to bark at a dog park; a regulation prohibiting baseball players from hitting home runs; and a billboard the size of a small car to list extensive rules around enjoying a beer in a pilot project — that has been criticized for ‘encouraging’ the act it explicitly permits.

There are times when the rest of Canada’s criticism of Toronto for being uptight and backwards is unfair. This is not one of those times.

Ben Spurr is a reporter at the Toronto Star’s City Hall bureau. He said a lot of the time even city councillors don’t know where these rules come from.

“I think these are the kind of conflicts that spring up in a city like Toronto that’s growing pretty rapidly and doesn’t have a ton of free green space these days,” said Spurr.

So, what does this say more broadly about how the city manages public spaces?

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