I saw a news item the other day on how Grenadier Pond has not been inspected for ice thickness since the time of amalgamation. Before then, the city regularly drilled holes in the ice to assess it for skating safety and open it to skaters when safe to do so. But one councillor justified the change in rules by claiming it would be too expensive to drill regularly (why wasn’t it before?) and open the city to liability if someone fell through the ice (and why wasn’t that an issue before amalgamation)? Bureaucrats and lawyers once again make decisions for all of us based on rules, not on real human behaviour, common sense, and urban quality of life.

Fortunately, one councillor, Paula Fletcher sees the need for regular inspections so as to open up the Pond once again to skaters, officially. After all, people are out there skating and playing hockey despite the flimsy and permanent “no skating” sign beside the Pond and the stern bold letters on its website. It’s Toronto’s civic duty to ensure that those skaters are on safe ice, not to run and hide cause the lawyers are clanging the warning bells. Besides which, because of the weather, we’re increasingly skating on outdoor hockey rinks or indoors in arenas and becoming separated from our natural environment. Even the in-between arena and pond ice of local park rinks are extinct. If Ottawa can open the Rideau Canal and have a winter festival on it, why can’t Toronto open Grenadier Pond to those Torontonians who want to skate in the fresh air, on nature’s ice, away from the artificiality of our city?

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1. The Monstrous Blue Coming to You
2. Skateboard Madness at CBMK
3. A Holiday and Ice Time
4. Protest!
5. The Missing Art of Weather Forecasting