Re: the naming of Station Street Park
Your article states that, “A total of 27 unique names were recommended for the park, as well as 16 submissions proposing to name the park after the late former Duncan Mayor Michael Coleman."
That is 60 per cent of the names submitted suggested Coleman or Michael Coleman Park. Or did you mean 27 plus 16 that suggested the Coleman name? The article was not clear.
However, “City planner Larissa Barry-Thibodeau said in a staff report that it was determined that naming the park after an individual would not be appropriate for this location.” Why did they determine this? How did they determine this? Based on what criteria? Clearly, many people told the city their preference, and as usual, council went ahead and did what it probably planned to do all along. That is precisely what they did with the ridiculous scramble crosswalk at Ingram and Canada Avenue.
Why bother asking the people, if there is zero intention of paying any attention whatsoever? So now we have Friendship Park along with The Friendship Trail. Two staggeringly boring names. Fifteen years ago we renamed Government Street Park [to] China Gardens, with the input of the Chinese seniors population, who chose it. Canada Avenue Park was renamed Heiwa, or Peace Park in honour of the Japanese residents who used to live near there before the war.
There are so many imaginative and wonderful names we could have chosen. But no. Council decided to just keep the name homogenized and bland. I guess we should be grateful they did not call it Cream of Wheat Park instead.
Sharon Jackson
Duncan
