City
185 Names for a Toronto Neighbourhood as Group Chalks Suggestions Along West Toronto Railpath
A group of local residents in West Toronto have entered the next phase in their quest to find a name for their beloved neighbourhood. Back in August, the group known as Fuzzy Boundaries began soliciting suggestions for the name of an area just east of the Junction, loosely bordered by Dundas, Dupont, Landsdowne and Bloor St. Two months later and they have arrived at a long list of 185 names.
To draw attention to their efforts, the group decided to chalk the names along a section of the West Toronto Railpath. Fuzzy Boundaries spokesperson Kevin Putnam says this "offers everyone a chance to see the names suggested so far and prompt additional ideas before a shortlist is drawn up in January."
And what a collection of names it is. From the ridiculous (Big Banana, Gotham) to the predictable (West Toronto Junction, North Roncy), there's enough range to make it anyone's guess what will emerge as the winner. Among my personal faves are the tech sounding J-Pod, transit-minded Dupont Station and anachronistic SOJUTA (South Junction Triangle Area).
Suggestions are still welcome until January 14th and can be made online or via a suggestion box at the Perth/Dupont branch of the Toronto Public Library. Then, the community will get to vote and dwindle the list down to a final 10 before a selection committee of residents and experts make a final decision. The group believes that the ideal name will be one that's both unique and references some aspect of the area's history or topography.
Here's a look at the complete list of 185 suggested names to date, in list form and in video.
Photos by Vic Gedris
Discussion
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That makes this neighbourhood Wall-E West.
Next!
("Perth Park" seems sensible, too. Most of the other suggested names are dumb.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51cwNrpsNkU
I really don't get why the area needs a name.
Done and done.
You're all welcome.
I got a name..Transient Row.
I'm curious, how does "Symington Triangle" denote or connote cancer? The triangle part might evoke the Bermuda Triangle, but unless the area was known for disappearances I don't quite get it.
“Over half of Junction residents left out of naming exercise”
Only 217 voted out of 8000 residents- 2%, is not considered a MAJORITY
For almost a year an informal neighbourhood group called Fuzzy Boundaries www.fuzzyboundaries.ca has been rallying residents to have the Junction Triangle renamed, a neighbourhood nested between 3 sets of rails in Ward18. Many feel the reasons for the low turnout of voters is, “the group’s English-only flyers and website is why only less then 2% of the community’s residents voted in this poll. The other big reason residents were not properly informed. Unable to read the English only postcard that many received. Many others not having a computer, making it difficult to go on the website, like seniors. With only 40% of the population speaking English at home. The other top four languages spoken at home are 25% Portuguese, 4% Spanish, 3.3% Chinese, 2.8% Italian.
Unfortunately, the City of Toronto does not have any formal process for renaming neighbourhoods (the only exception is for naming business improvement areas, which doesn’t apply in this case).
Since Fuzzy Boundaries is an informal neighbourhood group and is not affiliated with the City of Toronto in any way, as Adam Giambrone has indicated. Making this difficult for the City or the Councillor to dictate or monitors the process to what Fuzzy Boundaries or any other group is doing.
An email I received from Adam Giambrone, encourages Fuzzy Boundaries to be as inclusive and fair as possible. Many residents feel that the group has not been fair and inclusive, not been informed properly about the renaming of their community, as Funny Boundaries claims to have done.
After numerous complaints from residents, the group had to change the way the voting process was organized; many felt that it was unfair and undemocratic.
The City speaks about diversity, yet we hear cases like this, were residents are not been included or informed. Maybe the City should be involved in the process for renaming neighbourhoods. So groups like fuzzy boundaries would be forced to be transparent, fair and inclusive for all. Thank you
Jack Fava, Resident of Ward18
favagj@hotmail.com
Home: 416-534-0602
Cell: 416-301-5367
OR
Virginia Novak, Residents of Ward18
Home: 416-537-8006