Jeff Healey Park's musical playground too noisy for some neighbours

A Toronto playground designed to encourage children's musical dreams is becoming a nightmare for some peoplewho live nearby.

Etobicoke's Jeff Healey Park, named after the late Canadian jazz and blues great in 2011, was rebuilt last fall to include several instruments that anyone can play. The park, near Mimico Creek at the foot of Delroy Drive and Daniels Street, features several xylophone-like structures as well as metal structures that children can drum on.

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Neighbour Goran Urosevic said he thinks the playground instruments are a good idea, but due to the way it's designed the noise seems louder at his home than it is in the park itself. That's especially troubling, he said, when people are playing the playground at night.

"Jeff Healey was a great musician and we're honoured that he grew up in the neighbourhood and all that, but it's simply ruining our lives,"Urosevic, an airline pilot, told CBC News.

"It's disturbing our sleep patterns and we are not able to sleep properly."

The city is set to hold a community meeting on May 5 at St. Mark Catholic School to discuss what to do about the park.

Cristie Healey said the park represents her late husband's love of music and that the instruments add "a great musical benefit" to the community. In a statement, she said she's hoping the city can find a way to resolve the issues without compromising the park's vision.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the inconsiderate actions of some, the positive experience of the park has been tainted," she wrote.

City aware of problems

Coun. Justin Di Ciano said the city is aware of the issues. So far, staff have already changed some of the mallets and may move the instruments farther into the park, he said.

The Etobicoke-Lakeshore councillor said the city also needs a way to stop people from using the playground at night.

"Obviously at the summer months you're going to get young people going to the park at night,"he said.

Healey grew up in the Etobicoke area and played there both as a teenager and as a father with his own children. He died of cancer in 2008 at age 41.