Base of metal pole is a bad trip at city park
A walk in the park shouldn’t include the possibility of stubbing your toe on a metal menace protruding from the sidewalk.
With the fine weather refusing to quit, people are still wandering around in minimal footwear, as in sandals and flip-flops that offer zero protection for tender toes.
Most people know to watch out for holes we can step in or things we could unintentionally kick. But even the most cautious strollers can let down their guard at the wrong time, with painful consequences.
And if they happen to be heading to Barbara Hall Park, a small but heavily used green space near Church and Wellesley Sts., there’s a good chance their foot could make contact with a dangerous metal stump.
Troy Matthews emailed to say that at the east entrance to the park, part of a tiny street called Cawthra Square, which runs west from Jarvis St., several metal bollards are anchored in a sidewalk.
One of the poles was removed more than a year ago, leaving its stubby metal base exposed, said Matthews, who lives nearby.
“Myself and many others have witnessed people injuring their feet by walking into the stump. Bicycles have hit the stump, followed by the rider being injured by the fall, and roller bladers have hit it.
“I’ve contacted the city many times over the past year to repair the stump by reinstalling the yellow barrier pole. To date, all they do is place a pylon over it, which lasts for hours at best.”
“During last year’s Pride week I witnessed people injuring themselves because of this obstacle, which the city should have addressed a very long time ago.”
We went there to shoot photos and ended up talking to David Longhurst, who lives right beside the park, is a friend of Matthews and knew about his email to us.
He told us he has also seen people kick the metal stub and has called the city about it, but nothing has been done. Status: Brian Provo, the acting manager of road operations in that area, said he’d send a supervisor right away to check it out and replace the bollard that should be covering it. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer, call us at 416-869-4823 or email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/ the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.