Toronto Mayor John Tory says the city should be putting basketball nets up, not pulling them down.
Tory’s comments follow a video that purports to show a city worker dismantling a net went viral.
In a tweet late Wednesday, Tory said the city should be encouraging kids to play – a message the mayor says he has delivered to parks staff.
The mayor followed up Thursday morning at a press conference telling reporters that he has personally asked the recreation department to stop taking down nets at the end of the day.
“We should be doing everything we can to get as many kids as possible to be playing basketball in our public parks,” said Tory. “As long as there’s daylight… we want them to be engaged in that kind of positive fun activity especially in the summer months.”
Wednesday’s short Twitter clip was posted by user Mitch Robson with the caption, “Absolutely sickening display @cityoftoronto let the kids play!!!”
It shows a young player dribbling a ball as the net comes down, then pans to a group of young players lamenting the hoop’s removal.
The video was taken at Phin Park near Jones and Danforth Avenues.
Global News spoke to Robson about the video he posted. He said, “I think it put some pressure on the City to kind of look at this archaic policy they had in effect. And we’ll see now if it ends up making a change going forward.”
In a statement on Twitter Thursday morning, the City of Toronto said: “Removing basketball hoops at 6 p.m., as we saw in the video posted last night, is not reasonable. The City fully acknowledges this.”
City of Toronto officials later said they would no longer be removing the nets.
The city also cited the removal of hoops was due to noise complaints by residents who live close in proximity to basketball courts.
“Staff will monitor noise complaints the City may receive on a case by case basis in an attempt to ensure everyone is free to enjoy both their parks and their backyards.”
— With files from The Canadian Press.