what is the significance of the tennis shoes /basketball shoes thrown up to wrap around the telephone wires ?

When I was a kid (long time ago) on the last day of school we would take our old sneakers out of our gym lockers and throw them in the lines while walking home.

Over the years there have been many explanations for this, from gang activity to drug related beacons. Many of the more common explanations are listed in the link I will include at the bottom.

However, I also feel that it has over the years become different on a place by place basis. While nobody can claim for sure at this point, I can say without a doubt that kids these days have more reasons than those you will find on webpages.

In the urban districts of my city, for example, it has become common practice to hang the shoes of a deceased teenager following an ecstacy overdose following the increase of MDMA usage in Ontario over the last decade.

You said hate so many times there that maybe you should get this person out of your life permanently. Not good for you. To get your shoes you need to call the electric company or the telephone company and have them send out a worker to get them down. They might charge you money to do that. But they probably want the shoes down anyway so it doesn’t hurt their wires. In the meantime go get a new pair of shoes and don’t allow that hateful hater liar to come around you anymore. he is rude.

You know, I was wondering the same thing. Every time I go to visit my grandparents I pass through this little area of town and the fire department is out there getting a pair of shoes down with their ladder truck. I have always wondered that as well, I will have to check back to see what everyone else says…

I have heard that this symbolizes a drug house near by- or territory of a gang.

For spanish speaking people means “I quit”. We even have a figure of speech: Ex: He hung up his snickers. (Also gloves, as a boxer)

I always was told it meant that drugs were sold in that area, if not directly below it.

Just kids being kids.