Our Common Grounds: Toronto Parks & Recreation Strategic Plan

I found this a very interesting read...

Toronto is the largest city in the country, and the wealthiest. Our economy produces 20 per cent of Ontario’s GDP. More than 89 per cent of Toronto’s children under 12 say they prefer swimming to any other form of activity. Youth aged 13 to 24 (the same youth we’re trying to lure back to physical activity) place swimming at number three on their preferred list. Yet Toronto has only one public, competitive 50 metre pool. We have only one indoor diving tower.

Skateboard parks have been the coolest thing in male youth recreation for a decade, yet we have only four. BMX, a special kind of bike track, is the latest thing. We have only one BMX park.

And what about women? We have worked hard to break down gender barriers: many more girls now play ice hockey, but we haven’t built a new arena in 20 years. There is no prime ice time available in the city. We can’t pull youth into our programs if we don’t offer them facilities they want to use. And we are inhospitable to top athletes, the kind of people we want to train, and hold on to.

Abandoned

Saw this abandoned horsey on my way into my apartment yesterday snapped a photo of it with my iPhone. Only now did I realise it's an apt little metaphor for my Travelling Broad blog...