Toronto bylaws: Rebel without a cause

BY: ROGER TRAN

From no dragging dead horses down Yonge Street on Sundays, to no ball playing on the streets, Torontonians have a love-hate relationship with bylaws. All the rules of the city attempt to address the needs of the public. But the origins can be complex.

While some residents complain about specific bylaws, it’s often the constituents themselves who set the municipal rules. Some Torontonians feel a number of bylaws get passed without thorough inspection. 
 

But Karen Lunn of Toronto’s City Clerk office says that’s not the case.

“They’re not just passed because two people think that they should be passed,” she said. “That does not happen.”

Hockey is Canada’s most celebrated sport, but it’s illegal to play on the road. The rule is rarely enforced, but hockey players could get a $55 fine. Daniel Chisholm plays ball hockey on the cul-de-sac beside his home. He uses a manhole and leftover pavement grooves to mark a goalie line.

Chisholm is surprised to hear about the bylaw, but he says that won’t stop him.

“It’s not fair to me that my sport that I play cannot be played because of a (by)law,” Chisholm said. “It’s silly, I’m not going to be able to break someone’s house with a tennis ball.”

Others can be ruthless ball hockey players, damaging property and trespassing on lawns. Spacing Magazine and public space advocate Matthew Blackett says ball hockey is not the problem, but the disregard that players have. He wants to “decriminalize” ball playing on Toronto streets.

“If people are playing ball hockey on the road, there are already bylaws in place that can be used to deal with people.” Blackett said. “If you hit someone with your car, you get charged with some sort of violation. But it doesn’t mean that driving is illegal.”

Toronto has thousands of bylaws, but some can be confusing to residents. And some of them are more regularly enforced than others.

“Even the city doesn’t know all its bylaws,” Dylan Reid said. “They’re not actually organized by category, so if you’re trying to find a bylaw for a specific thing, it’s actually very difficult to find where it is.” He’s the co-chair of Toronto Pedestrian Committee, one of many advisory groups that help City Hall make decisions, such as creating bylaws.

Jaywalking is a grey Toronto bylaw, but it doesn’t stop many pedestrians from doing it. He says jaywalking in the city is actually legal, if a pedestrian crosses mid-block and doesn’t impede traffic. Crossing near a traffic intersection or forcing vehicles to slow down is illegal.

“There’s a law that says…as you’re crossing the street, you have to give the right of way to cars,” Reid said.  Safely crossing mid-block doesn’t violate the Ontario Highway Traffic Act or the Toronto bylaw. But the surge in pedestrian deaths that affected the GTA , lead to officers issuing more jaywalking tickets. 11 pedestrians were killed just in the month of January.

Bylaws not only can bring misunderstanding, but conflicts of interest.

Recently, City Hall passed a bylaw that prohibits store owners on the second floor or above from planting A-frame signs on the sidewalk. Although the bylaw improves pedestrian movement, store owners use the signs for advertisement.

Laura Schaefer, the Queen West Business Improvement Area coordinator, says the new bylaw has financial impacts.

“A-frame signs are so essential, especially to small business owners,” she said. “This is their livelihood, and it’s really important that there is A-frame signage on the street.”

The new bylaw requires enough clearance for two passing wheelchairs. Portions of Queen Street West, such as the north sidewalk from Spadina Avenue to Peter Street are wide enough. But other parts are narrower.

Schaefer says the BIA is working with councillor Adam Vaughan to find the “Queen Street” solution.

“When you look at the streetscape, of course it’s important to guarantee that there’s safety,” she said. “We’re really just at the beginning of trying to figure this out.”

Most bylaws stem from a complaint-driven letter by a constituent. The councillor requests a staff-written report. The city’s legal department looks at the lawful viability of enforcing that issue. Next, City Hall committees further inspect the report. If it’s feasible, then a public meeting is held. The final step is the city council meeting. If the councillors approve of the new ruling, then it turns into a bylaw.

Banning leaf blowers in Toronto is an example of City Hall’s quality assurance at work. Many residents complained about the noisy leaf blowers. But the proposed bylaw didn’t pass because enforcement was too impractical.

“There’s quite a process to pass a bylaw, especially ones that would apply to everyone who live in the city of Toronto,” Lunn said. 

External Links

City of Toronto bylaws - http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/index.htm

Not all bylaws are created by the city

Roger Tran interviews Heather Marshall of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. She reveals that TEA helps create bylaws in Toronto, including the the Community Right to Know. It's a bylaw that requires small businesses to identify 25 priority toxins if they're being used.

How Toronto bylaws affect businesses

Recently,  a bylaw was passed that prohibits store owners on the second floor or above from planting A-frame signs on the sidewalk. Although the bylaw improves pedestrian movement, store owners use the signs for advertisement.


And according to Robert Sysak, the West Queen West administrator, he says it's hurting businesses. Listen to the interview and get a sense of how the bylaw is changing things.

Have bylaws gone to the dogs?

Toronto's taxes can influence the way way we live and work. Kristofer Baker reports on how dog-walking is heavily influenced by city bylaws and fees.

By:Kristofer Baker
Running a professional dog handling business is no walk in the park.

 Many dog walking companies, such as Dogtown Inc., will tell you there is a lot of red tape when it comes to handling pets professionally.

 Judy Frutado is a professional handler who helped start Dogtown.  She believes The City of Toronto created a set of unnecessary challenges for those looking to launch and maintain a dog walking company.

 According to Frutado, permits, insurance and legal fees are bylaws are all hurdles in maintaining a walking business

 City bylaws prohibit anyone from walking more than six dogs at time. Frutado believes this cap is unnecessary.

 “A dog walker is only allowed to walk six dogs at a time, which I think is pretty ridiculous. If you’re an experienced handler, you can handle more than six in my opinion.”           

 Any handler who wishes to walk more than three dogs at a time must have a permit. Frutado said acquiring one is a costly process.

“You have to be registered by the City in order to walk six dogs in a public park, which is a 200 dollar annual fee.” Frutado said In order to get registration, you have to be insured by an insurance group and have at least 1 million dollar liability.”

 Mike Gorman has worked in waste management and customer service for the cities of Toronto and North York for 25 years. He said City Hall establishes permit requirements for necessary reasons.

“Most laws and bylaws especially are put in place not necessarily for the tax increase or the purpose of it or to gain a fee from something,” Gorman said. “They’re typically there because of an issue that has happened and the city has to bring that in.”

 The representative for 311 said incidents with dog walkers happened in the past and the city responded by implemented requirements to make the job safer.

 “Maybe they weren’t taking control of the dogs, somebody complained, by law officers went out and investigated and over certain amount of time found that individuals were walking up to maybe 10, 12 dogs at a time.” Gorman said.

 Frutado said Dogtown has access to a private park and has never had an incident where their dogs have ever been a danger.

“If you are an experienced handler, you know how to control your dogs,” Frutado said.

 Many dog walking businesses use a screening process to ensure they are not handling dogs who threaten the safety of animals or humans around them.

 “As a walker you are going to do an assessment period with your clients,” Frutado said. “So you’re going to do your due diligence. We’re not taking a dog with aggression and if I do encounter one, my first recommendation would be for the person to see a trainer.”

 Walkers have to ensure every pet they accept is registered with the City of Toronto.  Frutado said walking an unlicensed dog has consequences.

 “If you get caught by a bylaw officer walking dogs that aren’t registered with the city, the walker can take a charge for the dog not being registered,” Frutado said. “That can start at about 200 dollars a fine.”

 Frutado doesn’t understand the rationale behind dog walking and pet licensing fees.

 “I don’t particularly think I agree with them,” Frutado said. “Governments are already taxing us through the teeth.”

 Many pet owners like Frutado question where the licensing money goes.

 “I guess in my mind I can hope that the money is going for a good cause like animal services helping abused and neglected animals,” Frutado said.

 Eletta Purdy is a Manager at Toronto Animal Services. She says licensing and permit fees imposed by the City stay in the animal services sector.

 "It’s not put into the general city revenue accounts. It goes straight to animal services.” Purdy said. “So that allows us to do many things like returning lost pets to owners and supporting sheltering and sterilization of our adoption animals.”

 Purdy said licensing fees are necessary for the efficiency and effectiveness of Toronto Animal Services.

 “The primary purpose of licensing is for us to have an accurate database that allows us to connect you with your dog, should it go missing,” Purdy said. “So we can quickly and safely as possible get the pet back to you.”

 Purdy suggested more people would accept fees if they better understood their purposes.

 “Let me put it this way, there are many people out there that don’t recognize or are aware of where the funding goes and for what purpose.” Purdy said. “As we go along and inform people as to what it actually supports, the support for licensing increases.”