We should all learn to share public space

In 2016, a sports program for toddlers was forced to relocate from a Toronto parkette after residents complained about the noise, otherwise known as the sound of children laughing. Last year, I visited the controversial sight of iPaddle Adventures — a paddleboard rental kiosk in the Toronto beach neighbourhood that provoked numerous complaints from residents whose previously spotless view of the lake now included, to their dismay, human beings enjoying themselves (to think, some people actually go into Lake Ontario, rather than look at it from their balcony).

These are just a few of the many reasons cranky Torontonians complain to the city, and occasionally compel it to do their cranky bidding.

But no matter the specific nature of the complaint, the syndrome driving it is almost always the same: NIMBYism, a.k.a. not-in-my-backyard-ism, the self-absorbed, idealistic belief that the commotion of city life mustn’t encroach on an individual’s peace and quiet.

Enter the next evolution of NIMBYism: NIMPism, a.k.a. not in my park.

This month we learned that two out of three of the extremely popular baseball diamonds at Trinity Bellwoods Park won’t host adult softball games come next season because the city received complaints about rec-league athletes hitting softballs too far outside the park diamonds. In other words, some people are good at softball, and as a result, picnickers and passersby are at risk of getting pelted in the head.

The problem, according to a statement given to the Star by the city’s parks, forestry and recreation department, is that the Bellwoods diamonds “are not regulation size for adult softball and, as the use of the park has increased, the impact of having undersized diamonds has become more pressing. As a result, the city has committed to relocating adult softball leagues to other locations over time.”

What’s funny about this particular case of NIMBYism or NIMPism, is that the people at risk aren’t the usual suspects (baby boomers who fear losing a view or their hearing), but hipsters who fear losing their heads. And while I sympathize with my contemporaries (I’ve spent the greater part of my twenties in Trinity Bellwoods) and don’t want anyone to meet his end drinking warm wine from a Solo cup, I think there’s a better solution to the stray ball problem than the one arrived at by city.

Here’s a thought: rather than relocate the adult softball leagues to bigger diamonds in less congested areas, perhaps we should relocate the scores of people who consistently choose to set up their picnics in centre field. Go to the park on any summer day or evening and you’ll see them: dozens of sitting ducks who camp out dangerously close to the baseball diamonds, when there is more than enough green space to go around in the park that isn’t within batting range. I’ve witnessed these types become visibly incensed when a ball flies past their heads. And yet, they never think to move — for example, to set up camp further west of the diamonds where there’s an abundance of good picnic space.

Of course, this wouldn’t eliminate 100 per cent the risk that softball poses in the park. Someone who takes all the right precautions and sits far, far away, may still get hit. But being in the park period involves some risk. Last year, I tripped on a tree root running through the park and split my lip open. Speaking of trees, there’s risk involved in sitting underneath one (in 2016, a man was struck and killed by a falling tree branch in the park).

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to make life in our cities safer. But sometimes the answer to making life safer isn’t banning things. It isn’t telling one group of people to do their activity somewhere else. It’s in making space for each other. At its core, NIMBYism or, in this case, NIMPism is an unwillingness to compromise.

The people who hang out in and around the outfield of Trinity Bellwoods Park (ironically a younger demographic that typically disapproves of NIMBYism) should exercise their compromise muscles. If there’s a game on and they don’t want to end up in the ER, they should scooch over.