Clothesline Ban = Gone! (Finally)
Today I woke up to a familiar, but somewhat forgotten sight: shirts and towels fluttering in the gentle summer-like breeze. My neighbours have set up a clothesline in their backyard! The reason I seem to be so excited about this seemingly mundane fact is that up until a couple of days ago hanging out your clothes to dry would have been illegal for many home dwellers across Toronto. While there was no city-wide clothesline ban (at least I can't find any evidence of it), many subdivisions had anti-clothesline covenants in effect - restrictive clauses that tell you what you can and can't do with your property.
Well, as of last Friday all such restrictions are deemed void by the provincial government - when it comes to ground-level houses anyway. Apartment and condo dwellers may still be disallowed to hand their laundry on balconies - apparently due to "safety concerns". Funny - I used to think of clotheslines and clothes as rather benign objects.
Of course, encouraging people to use hang their clothes to dry instead of throwing them into a dryer is a step in the right direction. When it comes to household appliances, dryers are among the biggest energy hogs , gobbling down five to ten times more energy per hour than washing machines, and accounting for about 6% of the typical household energy consumption. And if you are a Toronto resident, you can even get a clothesline for free between April 26 and May 11, courtesy of Toronto Hydro.
What I found most interesting is the amount of debate this news generated on various blogs and discussion boards. Outlawing a ridiculous ban to help save energy seems like an absolute no-brainer to me - the only thing wrong with it is that it came so late! And yet more than a few folks on the web (though nowhere near the majority) seem to be objecting to the sight of neighbours' laundry, especially *gasp!* underwear. Talk about uptight!
Comments (23)
If the wind takes an article of clothing off a clothesline in a suburban setting, no harm done. It'll likely just end up in the corner of your yard or in a neighbours yard. If you lose a piece of clothing off of a balcony, you have no yard so it's pretty much guaranteed that it will end up in public space, and likely that public space will be the adjacent road.
People lose clothing off their suburban lines all the time. Add a strong updraft and multiply that by the dozens of units in a building and you have a very real safety concern.
No, but I think that has more to do with the existing ban then it does their potential danger. If anyone has ever hung laundry up on a clothesline on a mildly windy day then they have probably lost a few articles of clothing before.
It's not hard to imagine the problem if one of those pieces of clothing were to flutter on down to a busy road.
I realize that in ANY situation it is possible to come up with scenarios that result in fatal consequences. It's all a matter of the likelihood of said consequences. Which I would estimate as rather low in this case. If you want to ban truly dangerous thigns, the first item on your list should be the automobile. It has the worst safety record of... anything, really.
The politically correct elitists strike again. Thin time they did a complete 180.
The original ban was because it was unsightly and brought down the value of the homes.
Bet the real estate people are angry.
They have invented these really cute clothes pins that if used properly should hold the clothes on the line. Using 2 or more together helps. Thank goodness this ban was lifted,finally....
Anyone who has actually ever done their own laundry would know clothes pins often don't stop the wind from taking your clothes.
@Ryan L.
Are you serious about clothes coming off clotheslines being enough of a safety hazard to warrant their being banned?
Should carrying an umbrella during windy storms be outlawed? Hats?
The notion that runaway clothes pose a serious risk to the safety of people in the city is ridiculous, IMO.
If you are afraid of falling laundry you should avoid Asia. Apartment dwellers here hang their laundry from their condos and apartments on a regular basis. I haven't heard anything about deaths caused from falling laundry...
http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/laundry.JPG
That's a lovely photo, but when compared to a photo of a typical Toronto apartment building, you can see the difference, right?
http://www.gatewayproperties.ca/photos/50%20Stephanie%20Street-50stephanie-outside.jpg
We're not talking about clothes falling and injuring people, we're talking about clothes falling and landing on passing cars. A bedsheet softly landing on someone's windshield is a very different story than a bedsheet softly landing on someone's head. Hell, if the sheet misses a car and lands on the roadway itself, it's STILL bound to cause problems.
Obviously a low-rise building in a suburban area is a different story than a high rise on Bloor street.
I was given the impression that their decision to leave apartments out of the new law is by no means final. To come up with a set of guidelines as to what is and isn't allowed would take some time to figure out. No hanging clothes higher than 7 floors? 8? 15? No hanging clothes if adjacent to major roadways?
All this fuss over a solar dryer that has been used for centuries. It is free, stimulates exercise, and is not used if it is raining or too windy. Perhaps we need a lesson on clotheslines 101.
I can not believe this! The other day John Gerretson held a speech at the school i work at, and he was bragging about these great enviromental initiatives, yet there is this ridiculous ban on clothes lines. What a freeakin Joke. No wonder people have little faith in politicians. We need people in government who change the world.
I'm currently living in Spain where people hang their clothes out the window all the time. Go to Barcelona or Madrid and when you look up all you see is clothes. Rather than finding it ugly or unsightly I feel like I'm a part of a neighbourhood. It's cozy.
Ryan L.,
Thanks for the heads-up about killer laundry. I'll keep an eye out for it when I drive my car. Maybe there should be road signs warning of the danger, like there are for deer and moose.
I am so happy to see this ban declared void.
I love hanging my laundry outside every morning. I find it a very relaxing activity, and the clothes always smell lovely and fresh when I bring them in off the line. It just makes sense not to run the dryer if you don't have to.
I won't be hanging up my laundry any time soon:
1. I live in a condo and don't have a balcony, but I do hang up my dress shirts and other clothes I don't want to shrink
2. Most dyed cotton fabrics will fade badly in the sunshine. UV rays will damage fabrics and reduce their longevity.
@Craig
----------
. . .Most dyed cotton fabrics will fade badly in the sunshine. UV rays will damage fabrics and reduce their longevity.
------------
Really? Then please explain why white cotton in mid-
East countries and India is always so sparkling white
and bright? They get lots of sun there and most people
wear white as an outer layer for cooling purposes yet
they always look so bright and fresh.
Can you explain further, please?
I wonder if we'll ever reach a point where focusing on the longevity of the human species takes precedence over concern about the longevity of the colour of our fabrics.
"I wonder if we'll ever reach a point where focusing on the longevity of the human species takes precedence over concern about the longevity of the colour of our fabrics."
You know, in this case one doesn't even have to choose. It's that good! ! :-) When I lived in an apartment building, I never dried my clothes on the balcony (too many pigeons, for one thing). I simply put most of the damp laundry on hangers and arranged them in the closet. The benefits were numerous: 1) No wasting money and energy on dryers, 2) Natural humidifying action (especially welcome in winter), 3) Save time: clothes go directly from washing machine to their place in the closet, with no intermediate steps.
I come also from a country where people dry their clothes on clothelines, and I never heard of casualties of any kind -and we are famous for fast cars and roads, and crowded cities!- (the Ferraris and Lamborghinis for instance :D). And I am not a spring chicken precisely, so I *would* have heard of flying bedsheet casualties.
How absurd can one get? This is not precisely a new practice! It is the norm in many countries, and all over South America! The reason it was banned was aesthetic, not safety-related.
And, regarding the concern of having the clothes worn out, the sun is very beneficial for whites, even desinfectant. And you do not need to hang in the sun the bright-colored items. You can hang them in the shadow! Plus, the shrinkage of the dryer reduces the duration of the clothes much more than any effect from the sun. IMO, this practice is positive all around!
Ryan L. your picture of the typical Toronto highrise isn't all that different from the high rises here in Singapore.
http://www.betsygoestochina.com/images/SG3/SG3laundry.jpg
The only real difference is that most apartments in Singapore have wall mounted cups into which they insert laundry poles. There is an issue with falling objects but it isn't a major problem. I am sure the benefits outweigh the potential hazards.
Good on you Ontario. It is understandable that Canadians use clothes dryers because of the weather, but there is no excuse for USA especially in sunny areas not to allow (or use) clotheslines. I undestand 75% of US households do not use clotheslines. Here in Australia, we have plenty of sunshine and discreetly positioned clotheslines are part of every household. Innovative clotheslines have been available here for decades.
In about 35 years of hanging out my laundry I've never lost a piece - you need a peg use workshop, or maybe a "how to regognise an unreasonable bias" workshop mate.
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