Article today in the National Post.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/05/28/trouble-in-the-skies/
It is a good day to fly a kite.
Glenn Fabian says so as he squints up at a simple tissue paper model that was cut and bent into shape by a craftsman in Lahore, Pakistan. It climbs and plummets according to the deft hand movements of Gogi Malik, a master of the string who has travelled the world to test his kite-flying — and kite-fighting — abilities. A slight breeze rustles the trees framing Woodbine Park, clocking about 15 kilometres an hour. “This is the perfect wind, frankly, for us,” says Mr. Fabian one day this week.
But it’s been a turbulent, and surprisingly political, year for competitive kite fliers in Toronto, who have brought the popular South Asian and East Asian pastime of duels in the sky to city parks. After years of quietly tangling with opponents and slicing each others’ strings, the kite fighters made headlines last August when Councillor Chin Lee exposed the dangerous side of a seemingly inoffensive activity, its leftover twine strewn all over Scarborough’s Milliken Park, neighbouring homes and schoolyards. Having seen photos of how the nylon string, coated with glass fragments, injures wildlife, Mr. Lee’s concerns led the city to ban kite flying altogether in Milliken Park, unleashing the scorn of kite enthusiasts across the city.
City staff are now floating new regulations that differentiate between “kite fighting,” which uses abrasive string, and “competitive kite flying,” which employs a biodegradable, cotton string. The proposal is to ban the hazardous material used in the former, while issuing permits for the latter, and restricting it to certain of sites.
A city report on the proposed regulations notes that most parks will be off limits, given that an ideal location should be away from power lines, hydro or other utility poles, pathways, parking lots, major roads or highways, houses, airports, trees and areas of significant bird activity since “birds and kite flying are not compatible.”
Recreational kite flying would not be affected by the new rules, if adopted by council.
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Kite competitors like 49-year-old Mr. Fabian, an engineer, and Mr. Malik, a 36-year-old who runs his family’s jewellery shop, fully endorse the conditions. “We don’t want a ban on this,” says Mr. Malik, who leads the Gogi Kite Flying Club. “This is a good sport. We like it, we love it, and we need the proper solution for this.”
Others still wonder if it goes too far.
“From what I’ve read it’s a little bit confusing. They’re trying to separate the bad kite fighters from the good kite fighters, and who is going to be the judge of that?” asked Gary Mark, of Toronto Kite Fliers, a 31-year-old organization that promotes various forms of kiting, from collectors to surfers. “It all boils down to the responsibility of the kite fliers and looking after the line that they use and making sure that it’s cleaned up afterwards.”
Kite fighting is a skillful, wildly popular sport in such places as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan with a simple objective: claim supremacy over your competitor by sawing through his or her string with your own. A North American version is more akin to fencing, in which just a touch determines the winner.
As a child in Malaysia, Councillor Lee used to make his own kite flying string out of cotton. As a councillor representing Scarborough-Rouge River, he’s been getting complaints about the kite fighting detritus since 2006. He said park staff suggested imposing a ban in Milliken back in 2009; once it came into effect, his office was inundated with angry phone calls “some of them basically saying I’m a racist.”
“That’s why other politicians stayed away from this controversial issue,” said Mr. Lee. “They may have anticipated the backlash, but somebody has to stand up for the safety of kids and our wildlife and park users.”
Mr. Malik and friends wish they had been consulted before a ban turned them, as one combatant joked, into kite-flying refugees. They had moved to Milliken after they were banned from Scarborough’s Bluffers Park.
“Flying kite is not a criminal thing,” said John Chang, 46, a member of Mr. Malik’s club. “We are not doing any drugs or anything, we can say that this is like peace. It’s like a pigeon flying in the sky.”
Mr. Malik is now putting considerable effort into getting everyone on the same page in Toronto so that “a few bad apples” don’t ruin things for him and his club. He spells out the rules on his website. He imports rolls of biodegradable cotton string that has a sand-like texture and kites with bamboo frames from Pakistan. After every session, members have clean-up duties. City officials hope that by permitting some groups, other splinter groups will be compelled to join them and play by the rules.
“For us it was a big learning curve to understand what the difference is between the competitive folks and the fighters,” said Carol Cormier, manager of parks standards and innovation. “They are responsible, they want to do this, they can do it within the rules and they can make it a safe activity so it’s not impacting park users.”
Dave Meslin, who organizes Toronto’s largest kite festival called WindFest, will be speaking in favour of the recommendations at Tuesday’s parks and environment committee. He calls the proposal a “more sophisticated approach” to regulating kite flying. “We think it’s kind of ridiculous to try to ban kites outright in any park,” said Mr. Meslin. “Kite flying is not a dangerous thing at all. In fact it’s one of the safest things you can do in a park. It’s a great family activity.”
National Post
