Petition for Toronto Parks and Rec to replace the public volleyball courts

The Issue

Recently, Toronto parks management have removed public courts which were located just west of the bathrooms.

As you may know, the large majority of the beach volleyball courts are permitted - meaning that when the summer leagues are active, these courts are only allowed to be used by people who pay to be in the leagues or are in the tournaments on the weekends.  The city had provided a limited number of public courts - but are now removing them.  

With the recent surge in beach volleyball popularity, accessing beach volleyball courts outside of the leagues will be more and more difficult. 

Over the past decade, members of the Ashbridge's Bay beach volleyball community have been proactive in the maintenance and upkeep of the beach volleyball courts by replacing broken posts, reinstalling hardware on the posts and keeping the beach clean. (all at no cost to taxpayers) The city has typically been very slow in responding to broken posts or other issues of concern - broken posts have laid on the beach for months waiting to be replaced.

On March 9, 2021 members of the beach volleyball community installed a new fully accessible beach volleyball court at Ashbridge's Bay.  The location of the court replaced a previously installed court and was just west of the bathrooms.  This court was created to provide accessibility for athletes with disabilities (i.e., Sitting Volleyball) and the location of the court was ideal – the proximity to public transit, easily traversable terrain on wheelchairs, and access to the public restrooms all had an influence in the selection of that court location. 

In April 2021 the city removed a number of the public courts including this new accessible court along with two other courts.   

Sign this petition to get the courts reinstalled and make the beach more accessible for everybody.

This petition had 812 supporters

The Issue

Recently, Toronto parks management have removed public courts which were located just west of the bathrooms.

As you may know, the large majority of the beach volleyball courts are permitted - meaning that when the summer leagues are active, these courts are only allowed to be used by people who pay to be in the leagues or are in the tournaments on the weekends.  The city had provided a limited number of public courts - but are now removing them.  

With the recent surge in beach volleyball popularity, accessing beach volleyball courts outside of the leagues will be more and more difficult. 

Over the past decade, members of the Ashbridge's Bay beach volleyball community have been proactive in the maintenance and upkeep of the beach volleyball courts by replacing broken posts, reinstalling hardware on the posts and keeping the beach clean. (all at no cost to taxpayers) The city has typically been very slow in responding to broken posts or other issues of concern - broken posts have laid on the beach for months waiting to be replaced.

On March 9, 2021 members of the beach volleyball community installed a new fully accessible beach volleyball court at Ashbridge's Bay.  The location of the court replaced a previously installed court and was just west of the bathrooms.  This court was created to provide accessibility for athletes with disabilities (i.e., Sitting Volleyball) and the location of the court was ideal – the proximity to public transit, easily traversable terrain on wheelchairs, and access to the public restrooms all had an influence in the selection of that court location. 

In April 2021 the city removed a number of the public courts including this new accessible court along with two other courts.   

Sign this petition to get the courts reinstalled and make the beach more accessible for everybody.

The Decision Makers

Rishab Mehan
Rishab Mehan
Chief of Staff, Coucillor Brad Bradford Ward 19
councillor_bradford@toronto.ca
councillor_bradford@toronto.ca
Emily Thomas
Emily Thomas
Constituency Assistant
James Dann
James Dann
Supervisor, Waterfront Parks
Janie Romoff
Janie Romoff
General Manager, Parks Department

Petition Updates