Why can't Hamilton have street hockey? City council debates

Street hockey is officially banned in Hamilton, and once again, Sam Merulla wants to bring it back.

The Ward 4 councillor will introduce a motion at a city council meeting Friday morning that is a first steptoward making street hockey legal.He previouslytried this in 2002.

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It didn't happen then because of liability. But Toronto has recently iced its street hockey ban, which has revived Merulla's interest in it. He wants to see how Toronto is getting around those issues.

Merulla's motion is for staff to look into how Toronto "has overcome the barrier that prevented the City of Hamilton from permitting street hockey in 2002."

That's just one issue in a full meeting. CBC Hamilton reporter Samantha Craggs will tweet live. Follow her tweets in the window above or at @SamCraggsCBC.

Here's what else is on the agenda:

• Coun. Aidan Johnson (Ward 1) will introduce a motion reaffirming the city's commitment to transgender rights after a Christian Heritage Party ad appeared on Mountain bus shelters this week. The ad showed a man at a door that said "Ladies Showers" and said "Where is the justice?" It accompanied 3,500 flyers that said the city shouldn't align its policies following an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal settlement with a transgender woman this spring. Johnson also wants to look into how the ads were placed at all, and how to prevent it in the future. It's a notice of motion, which means it would normally be discussed in September, but Johnson could ask for it to be discussed Friday.
• Donald Vermithrax wants Hamilton to be "clothing optional" and allow residents to go nude in public. Council is unlikely to follow through on the request.
• Johnson will also introduce a motion to get rid of the "ugly"blue anti-graffiti film in HSR bus windows.
• Coun. Judi Partridge (Ward 15) will ask council to lift Hamilton's moratorium on new wind turbine projects.
• Council will rubber stamp hiring Aquicon Construction Company to build the Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre and surrounding projects for $22.1 million.
• Councillors received a plan to boost Confederation Park this week at a cost of about $40 million over 20 years.
• Councillors also received a report about the impact of LRT on traffic.