Why is tree climbing illegal in Toronto?

Last week a man was fined $365 for climbing a tree at Bellevue Park in Kensington Market. Could it be that tree-climbing is illegal in Toronto?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. Several bylaws prohibit climbing of various kinds within the city. This was a surprising discovery to me, as someone who has occasionally clambered up statues and done easy (only non-sketchy) ‘buildering’ just for fun. And who hasn’t climbed a tree?

Out of curiosity I looked up the applicable sections of our municipal code. Here’s what they have to say...

Climbing in parks (mostly) prohibited
City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 608 (Parks), section 6, established under BY-LAW No. 854-2004, states:

No person shall in a park: a) Climb a building, structure or equipment, unless it is equipment designed for climbing; [...] c) Unless authorized by permit, climb, move or remove the whole or any part of a tree, rock, boulder, rock face or remove soil, sand or wood.

Apparently you can’t climb stuff in Toronto parks! I wonder if it’s even possible to obtain a permit. It would be funny to apply to Toronto Parks for one and see what happens. Incidentally according to clause e) of this section, you can’t throw snow inside a park either. No snowball fights, kids—it’s illegal.

Climbing stuff in Yonge-Dundas Square prohibited
In Article III, 636-11 (Public Squares) from City of Toronto By-law No. 1001-2001:

No person shall, within the limits of a square: a) Climb or be on any, tree, roof of a building or any part of a building, structure or fixture, except any portion which is a public walkway.

This bylaw appears to specifically pertain to Yonge-Dundas Square [Minor note: this used to be Ch. 270, which was deleted by the above Bylaw] rather than all public squares. I find it mildly amusing that 'being' on a tree or building is impermissible as well.

Climbing street trees and posts prohibited
Under City of Toronto By-law No. 375-2012, Chapter 743-9, Fouling and obstructing streets:

... k) No person shall climb on or over a railing, bridge or fence located along or across any street, or climb on any tree located in a street, or on any post, pole or structure installed on any street.

Of course there are plausible reasons for bylaws like these. You don’t want people damaging trees, injuring themselves or others through dangerous behaviour, or messing up structures. Further, our municipal code is filled with historical cruft (though, in the case of the tree climbing clauses these are relatively recent updates).

It seems excessive. When you have so many obscure laws like this, it creates the potential for abuse by authority through arbitrary and discretionary enforcement.

And besides, if I fall out of a tree and break my arm—that’s my own fault. I don’t need a bylaw to tell me that. At least there seems to be room for climbing trees on private property.

Will I think twice the next time I look at a section of wall or a nice sculpture and say to myself, “I bet I could climb that!”? We’ll see...

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Original photo credit: Tree Climbing by Alec Couros. Modified and used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Related:
Is skateboarding illegal in Toronto?

Happy Star Wars Day!

Sometimes what we consider to be great cultural touchstones are simply works that have managed to physically survive through the ages. Literature is rife with such examples.

One day, will beleaguered students analyze George Lucas the way we do Shakespeare? Like it or not, you can easily make the case that Lucas’ work will still be kicking around 500 years from now, such has been its popularity.

In honour of this bright and sunny Star Wars day, I present you with the following videos—I do seem to enjoy collecting them...

May the Fourth be with you!

Lego Star Wars

[LINK]

Existential Star Wars [funnier if you don't understand French]

[LINK]

Galaxy of Passion - A Star Wars Telenova [or spanish]
[LINK]

Luke’s Change [9/11 conspiracy parody]

[LINK]

Star Wars animation done Japanese anime style
[LINK]

Star Wars Day Attack Ad: Say No to May the 4th
[LINK]

Bonus link: Behind the scenes photos from The Empire Strikes Back.

Other Star Wars posts of mine
Imperial March: Dogs versus Floppies
Star Wars Uncut -- Director's Cut
Top Ten Star Wars Spoof Videos
Top Star Wars Spoof Videos Continued

Why I Support the Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto (And Why You Should, Too!)

Very few people are passionate about—let alone interested in—municipal election reform. Probably 50% of my regular readers will never make it past the first sentence of this post.

I concede that it’s an eye-glazing subject.

Nevertheless, I want to inform you about a simple, incremental improvement to the way we could do voting in Toronto, that needs your support.

The proposed change is known as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). It is championed by a group called Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto, or RaBIT for short. And it’s actually pretty close to happening.

The Plurality Problem

A major issue with our current 'first past the post' system for city elections is that council candidates are often elected with less than an absolute majority of votes within their ward. In races with 3 or more strong candidates there is a tendency for vote-splitting to occur, with the result that some candidates take the victory, even though an absolute majority of voters would not have voted for them.

This video featuring Dave Meslin explains the issue, and the proposed solution:

[LINK]

How IRV Works

Instant Runoff Voting uses ranked ballots in an attempt to eliminate vote splitting. What happens is that voters submit ballots with their choices in ranked order of preference. If no one wins an absolute majority, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and those ballots then have their 2nd preferred choices counted in a second round. This process continues recursively until one candidate has attained an absolute majority of support. [Oh, and you can still just vote for one candidate. You don’t have to submit a ranked ballot if you don’t want to.]

It’s not a perfect approach, but here’s why you should support it:

The Benefits of IRV 

1. It eliminates vote splitting. People are free to vote for the candidates they truly support, without the fear of ‘wasting’ their vote on a candidate who isn’t going to win.
2. It promotes participation and diversity in elections. Candidates who might otherwise drop out or be dissuaded from participating, can now run without being perceived as ‘taking away’ votes from other candidates with similar support bases.  
3. It promotes a more positive and substantive approach to campaigning. Candidates need to consider attracting the '2nd rank' votes of their opponents. The best way of doing that will be through persuasive communication of ideas, not by adopting negative tactics and name-calling. 

And there’s one more advantage to IRV that may be the most critical element of all: it’s practical and pragmatic—it’s an easy to understand improvement. Other approaches are too unwieldy and complicated to implement, at least within the timeframe for the 2018 municipal elections. The reality is that we won’t achieve a radical overhaul of the system. But we can take a solid step towards something better.

Importantly, this change is about process, not specific candidates or political/partisan affiliations. It’s about making the voting system work better. This initiative isn’t even about the next election—this is about reforming the system for the 2018 election. It’s not a fringe idea—it’s happening.

Lastly, it’s key to note that this change is about municipal elections in Toronto—how we elect our mayor, to start with—where we don’t have political parties, and it is not about voting at the provincial or federal levels.

Here’s a lengthier video of Mr. Meslin discussing ranked ballots with Steve Paikin on TVO:

[LINK]

Drawbacks

There are theoretical drawbacks to IRV—mostly in certain edge cases. Voting system nerds will smugly inform you about the catastrophic possibilities for ‘monotonicity failure’, at which point you should just nod as if you see their point, while inwardly rolling your eyes. 

Logistically, ranked ballots can get unwieldy if there are a lot of candidates. But I’m confident that a reasonable solution can be adopted in time for the mayoral election of 2018.

And lastly, certain reform advocates are vehemently against implementing IRV (or any other non-proportional system) for Toronto. I don’t find their tactics or arguments convincing—but readers would be well served to investigate further and come to their own conclusions.

IRV is flawed, but it’s better than what we have now (and to reiterate, some very learned people don’t agree).

Broad base of support

A wide base of support for IRV has developed throughout Toronto—across ideological lines.  The penultimate goal is to get >50% of councillors to endorse it, so that the process can get underway to prepare the 2018 municipal mayoral election for the change.

Find out more about Instant Runoff Voting

• Check out the RaBIT website for plenty of information about IRV and what you can do.
• Read: Toronto voting proposal might be last shot at electoral reform in Canada (Andrew Coyne, National Post)
• Fair Vote Canada calls for a ranked ballot to elect the mayor of Toronto (an end, let’s hope, to the recent internecine voting reform kerfuffle)

Disclosure

Last year I attended a RaBIT volunteer meeting. In that sense I have been indoctrinated by the polished, mellifluous words of Mr. Meslin, one of the key organizers. Although I signed up for a number of initiatives, I haven’t contributed any efforts to RaBIT beyond occasionally re-tweeting stuff. I’m out of the loop—one of those loafers who enjoys the idea of helping out...

The 200th anniversary of the Battle of York!

Two hundred years ago an American force attacked York, the provincial capital of Upper Canada. It was a formative episode in our city’s history.

Check out:

• a review of commemorative events
• a short history of Fort York
• York in Flames (CBC Ideas podcast)
• Defending Fort York... from ourselves

And of course, my ongoing project:

• Fort York and Garrison Common Maps