Cracking Down on Yoga in the Park

This Week in Atlantic Cities.

In parks and open spaces in cities across the U.S. each morning, it’s easy to fine people stretching and reaching and posing in the blissful serenity of outdoor yoga. But as serene as it may seem, that downward-facing dog pose could be illegal.

Yoga or “boot camp” or any other paid fitness class taking place in a public park is a criminal activity, according to D.C. Council member Tommy Wells. He argues that these classes are making money from participants and are therefore a violation of a city law prohibiting private companies from conducting commercial activity at parks.

Parks and an Urban Revolution

Leah Houston takes a break from working on a stone mosaic in a green space on Mabelle Avenue.
(Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

From this morning’s Globe and Mail.

For nearby residents like Bernd Baldus, Toronto’s Bickford Park offers quiet, scenic relief from the unrelenting din of urban life.

But this spring, the calming scenery was tarnished when graffiti appeared, spray-painted across the rear wall of a neighbouring community centre that borders the park.

It was not the first time it had happened, and a fed-up gang of locals armed themselves and took action. The mob hauled their shovels to the park, ripped up patches of grass, and planted a thick row of trees to block the paint from view.