tobogganing

Tuesday February 9, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 9, 2021

Ontario will let more businesses reopen, gradually lift stay-at-home orders

Non-essential retailers in Ontario will be allowed to reopen at limited capacity when stay-at-home orders are lifted, the provincial government said Monday, as three public health units are set to see COVID-19 restrictions loosened.

Premier Doug Ford announced the changes this afternoon as part of his government’s plan to gradually move all of Ontario’s 34 public health units back to a colour-coded reopening framework.

Ontario has been in a provincewide “lockdown” since Dec. 26, and a stay-at-home order was added four weeks ago.

“Today we’re seeing some sunlight break through the clouds,” Ford said. “My friends, the measures are working. Staying home is saving lives.”

November 24, 2020

The following public health units will move into the green category — the least stringent in terms of COVID-19 restrictions — on Wednesday:

• Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

• Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health 

• Renfrew County and District Health Unit

The stay-at-home order will be lifted then in those health units as well.

The order will remain in place in the rest of Ontario until Feb. 16, when it could be lifted in 28 more public health units depending upon COVID-19 trends at the time, the government said.

In Toronto and Peel and York regions, however, the order is set to stay in effect until at least Feb. 22.

November 5, 2020

In the coming weeks, the province will progressively move more regions back into the colour-coded system, which includes the green, yellow, orange, red and grey “lockdown” stages.

For now, though, all except the three public health units listed above will stay under the stay-at-home order. As part of today’s announcement, the province detailed some changes to the set of restrictions that apply to areas in lockdown once stay-at-home orders expire.

Chief among them is that non-essential retailers in the grey zones will be allowed to open their doors with a 25 per cent capacity limit. The province said the move is to “support the province’s economic recovery.”

The same applies to some other businesses, including discount and big box retailers, liquor stores, hardware stores and garden centres.

Meanwhile, the 50 per cent capacity limit for in-person shopping at essential retailers, such as supermarkets and other stores that primarily sell groceries, as well as convenience stores and pharmacies, will stay in place. 

June 5, 2020

Personal care services, however, are to remain closed. 

Gatherings at residences are still prohibited, but outdoor events and social gatherings of up to 10 people with two metres of distance are allowed, with masks strongly encouraged.

Funerals, weddings and baptisms are also allowed, with 10 people either indoors or outdoors, with two metres of distance between them.

Religious gatherings are similarly capped at 10 people indoors with two metres between them, and masks are mandatory. Virtual and drive-in religious services are also allowed.

Indoor recreational fitness facilities remain closed, but outdoor recreational amenities like rinks and trails are allowed to open with restrictions. Ski hills were initially listed in the province’s news release as allowed, but a government spokesperson sent out a statement saying that was a mistake, and they would not be permitted to open. (CBC) 

 

Wednesday February 17, 2016

2016-02-17Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 17, 2016

Hamilton is Hot!

Unsurprisingly, both politicians claimed victory in the Great Sledding Showdown at the Garth Street reservoir this weekend.

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday November 13, 2015 Lobby begins as city to choose tobogganing hills Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding - despite a long-standing bylaw ban. It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills. But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun - and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots. City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton, Ontario, minecraft, children, sedentary, toboggan, tobogganing, winter, sports, fitness, litigation, legal

Friday November 13, 2015

Regardless, tobogganing fans were the clear winners Saturday as the city officially opened one of three sanctioned sledding hills, ending a much-maligned ban that earned unwanted international publicity for Hamilton last year.

“We’ve put the fun back in winter,” declared Mayor Fred Eisenberger before hitting the slope at the popular — and now legal — sledding hill. “And, ah, hopefully we have no more lawsuits … If anyone is thinking about lawsuits, just get back in the car.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday January 9, 2015 Hamilton Harbour becoming giant goldfish bowl Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures. The non-native fish species Ñ that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways Ñ have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation. It used to be that goldfish in the Ontario outdoors had a very low survival rate and little success at reproducing. But officials at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada say that's been changing in recent years in the warmer weather we've been experiencing. They've noticed exponential increases in numbers being counted at the Desjardins Canal Fishway Ñ from 20 or less per year in the late 1990s to 2,500 this past spring. And early this winter, millions of five centimetre, young-of-the-year goldfish have been seen swimming in giant schools at various locations in the harbour, including the section of the canal below the railway bridge. "They seem to be heading toward taking over," says Tys Theysmeyer, the head of natural lands for the RBG. Becky Cudmore, an invasive species expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says it's a problem being noticed at numerous locations in the lower great lakes, with Hamilton Harbour being a particular hot spot. "With increased warming trends we're seeing an increased ability of some fish species to survive in areas where we wouldn't think they could survive," she says. Theysmeyer says low water levels in the early summer in Cootes Paradise Ñ where fish tend to reproduce Ñ that suddenly rose later on also assisted goldfish reproduction. Shallow water is good for eggs, slightly deeper water is better as the tiny fish start to swim around. When water levels jumped 50 cms, d

Saturday January 9, 2015

Meanwhile, Hamilton Harbour has a new problem to add to its list of woes — goldfish.

Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures.

The non-native fish species — that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways — have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday December 11, 2015 Payday loan industry comes under microscope The province is moving to protect vulnerable people from cash stores and collections agencies Ñ but a local councillor calls the efforts "half-hearted." If passed, new legislation by the Ontario government promises to increase protections under the Payday Loans Act, Consumer Protection Act and the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act. The aim is to provide safeguards such as a cap on the rates charged by cheque-cashing services, a grace period for repayment for customers of rent-to-own services and reasonable costs for optional insurance on instalment loans. It would also offer longer repayment periods for repeat payday loan borrowers, and expanded rules against unfair collection practices from businesses that purchase and collect overdue debts. But Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Green says the legislation "doesn't go nearly far enough in terms of really tackling the core elements and the predatory nature of this industry." There are 813 licensed payday lenders in Ontario Ñ more than there are McDonalds restaurants. Roughly 35 of those are in Hamilton, according to the ministry's online database. For starters, Green wants to see the "ridiculous" interest rates on payday loans slashed. Green put forward a motion this summer to limit and regulate these stores at a municipal level, which would have made Hamilton the first city in the province to do so. Staff is now looking into the feasibility of that. In the meantime, he and a working group made up of local agencies, including credit unions, are actively researching a model for a market alternative low-cost loan service. Tom Cooper, director of Hamilton's Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR), says he'd like to see provincial legislation that enables municipalities to license lenders at the local level. He agrees there's more work to do on this. "At the end of the day É these services are predatory by nature and they'll continue to take a

Friday December 11, 2015

Meanwhile, The City of Hamilton is ready to get tough on payday lenders with a triple licensing whammy.

Under proposed new regulations, payday outlets will each have to fork over a $750 licensing fee.

Each outlet will have to display a mandatory poster showing the whopping annualized interest rates of their loans.

And all outlets will be required to display credit counselling information to borrowers.

The staff recommendations are intended to help people understand the financial dangers of using the high interest loan services, which are widely seen as preying upon the desperate and disadvantaged. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday, October 25, 2014Meanwhile, until now, it’s been a pie-in-the-sky idea. But the city wants to take the idea of gondolas into the mainstream.

City officials are intrigued by the notion of gondolas that would go up and down the Niagara Escarpment and have just added the concept to the transportation master plan (TMP) to get public input on the idea.

Transportation officials have been talking about gondolas for “two or three months now,” said Al Kirkpatrick, the city’s manager of transportation planning.

The city is reviewing its TMP to determine how transportation will grow in Hamilton over the next 30 years.

The team is hosting public input sessions in June, Kirkpatrick said. And as it does, it’s asking people about gondolas as a way of moving people between the upper and lower city. (Source: CBC News)

Friday August 28, 2015Friday August 28, 2015Meanwhile, “Hamilton,” the Broadway musical phenomenon, brought its thrillingly diverse hip-hop-infused narrative nationwide — and beyond — on the Grammy Awards on Monday.

As expected the show won for Best Musical Theater album. The award was presented on-air and creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda rapped his acceptance speech.

“We won a Grammy, mothef—ers,” director and star Lin-Manuel Miranda told a live audience — as he raised the award to the air — from inside the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, the show’s home on Broadway. (Source: NY Daily News)

 

Friday November 13, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday November 13, 2015 Lobby begins as city to choose tobogganing hills Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding - despite a long-standing bylaw ban. It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills. But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun - and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots. City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton, Ontario, minecraft, children, sedentary, toboggan, tobogganing, winter, sports, fitness, litigation, legal

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 13, 2015

Lobby begins as city chooses tobogganing hills

Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding – despite a long-standing bylaw ban.

Tuesday January 13, 2015It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills.

But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun – and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots.

City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Tuesday January 13, 2015

Tuesday January 13, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Tuesday January 13, 2015

Lawsuits are making it tough to find a public place to toboggan in the City

Once upon a time, tobogganing was so popular in the Dundas Valley the conservation authority looked at selling hot chocolate and installing portable toilets.

This year, the agency wants to plant trees on a popular sledding hill off Governor’s Road to discourage the winter sport that is increasingly plagued by liability chill in Hamilton.

“It’s sad, because we do want to encourage people to get outside and be active,” said agency head Chris Firth-Eagland. “It’s a liability problem, absolutely.”

Hamilton became the poster child for the legal dangers of tobogganing in 2013 after a Garth Street reservoir sledding accident left the city on the hook for almost $1 million in lawsuit damages and court costs.

Ironically, tobogganing has been banned on city property before amalgamation — unlike in surrounding sled-friendly cities like Burlington, Kitchener and St. Catharines. But Hamilton’s sledding reputation has really gone downhill in recent months thanks to renewed efforts to head off lawsuits.

In the Dundas Valley, Firth-Eagland said tree-planting is being mulled after an earlier effort to “naturalize” the hill failed to dissuade either tobogganers or noxious weeds.

This fall, the city installed additional “no tobogganing” signs at hills in Ancaster and Flamborough, as well as at the Greenhill and Garth Street reservoirs — the latter the site that prompted the most recent lawsuit.

Reinforcing the old bylaw has stirred up fresh outrage among residents unaware of the rarely enforced sledding ban. Since late last year, more than 1,000 people have signed an online petition at Change.org entitled, LET US TOBOGGAN!!!

“We’re getting more questions. Well, complaints, mostly, that we’re taking away a cherished Canadian pastime, that sort of thing,” said city parks manager Tennessee Propedo.

There are more signs, but no corresponding tobogganing ticket blitz, said enforcement manager Kim Coombs.

In fact, Coombs can’t recall ever charging someone with a tobogganing-related bylaw infraction. “We don’t really want to ticket someone for sledding,” she said. “When we get a complaint, which isn’t that often, we try to educate.”

That usually means a friendly reminder, Coombs said. Repeat offenders are mailed warning notices. Ignoring that would prompt a bylaw charge in provincial offences court.

Coun. Sam Merulla said he would be “shocked” if anyone had actually received a fine for tobogganing in the city.

“The point of the bylaw is to protect taxpayers from huge (legal) payouts,” he said, suggesting more cities will follow suit thanks to the recent lawsuit, not to mention the 500 or so sledding-related head injuries — mostly to kids — in Ontario each year.

Fairly or not, out-of-town media have begun to cite Hamilton as an infamous example of a North American trend toward tobogganing bans. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)