Gay Park would do just fine. But it has a first and last name only because of the prevailing climate of homophobia that surrounded its creation many years ago.听
Just using the last name, as is routinely done for other city parks, would have invited titillation, ridicule, and outrage, city worthies must have feared. So they used both names, which when you really think about it, is a perfect example of the homophobia the city was trying to skirt.听
This is what happens when city officials think too much about something, which they鈥檝e done again in a ridiculous new proposal to govern the naming of future city assets like parks and buildings.听
The verbiage in a windy report considered by councillors this week boils down to two things: don鈥檛 ever again use peoplesa国际传媒 names for new parks and, for heavensa国际传媒 sake, don鈥檛 ever give the public any meaningful say in what those parks and buildings should be called.听
How many city parks are currently named for people? The short answer, virtually all of them.听
Of the 232 parks listed on the citysa国际传媒 website, the overwhelming number are named for the street or neighborhood where they鈥檙e located, which are themselves based on peoplesa国际传媒 names, or they鈥檙e named in honour of people or clubs who鈥檝e admirably served sa国际传媒 in various capacities since its incorporation 125 years ago.听
Thatsa国际传媒 why we have Ben Lee Park in Rutland, Stuart Park downtown, Boyce-Gyro Park in the Lower Mission, Jack Brow Park at Manhattan Point, Kerry Park downtown, Kinsmen Park on Abbott Street, Knowles Heritage Park on Ethel Street, and on and on and on.听
Itsa国际传媒 also why we have, at 1250 Pridham Ave., Mary Ann Collinson Memorial Park. Who was she?听
She was one of four city residents who died in traffic accidents on a particularly grim weekend at the end of February 1964. The 18-year-old was one of three sa国际传媒 friends killed while on their way to Vancouver after their car crashed near Hope.听
She was born in sa国际传媒, lived with her family at 1710 Ethel Street, and at the time of her death was a student at sa国际传媒 Senior Secondary. She worked part-time at a downtown store.听
She was interested in drama and was a member of sa国际传媒 Little Theatre. She was a past president of Teen Town, a then-formidable youth organization, and she had just been elected president of the newly formed Young Liberal Association of sa国际传媒. She loved skiing.听
Reading over the article published in this paper after she died, and looking at the accompanying picture of the smiling young woman, I can barely imagine the grief her family and friends would have felt.听
They obviously felt moved to honour her memory by linking her name with a small park, and city officials obliged. Itsa国际传媒 as human and honourable a sentiment and action as you can imagine, and itsa国际传媒 one that would be banned under the citysa国际传媒 new proposed naming policy.听
Instead, the policy would emphasize factors such as location, community benefit and 鈥渓ocal ecosystem knowledge sharing鈥, whatever that is.听
Using peoplesa国际传媒 names for parks is now a fraught business, in the citysa国际传媒 view, since it might create some kind of unspecified division and upset, either now or maybe sometime in the future.听
And giving ordinary people some say in the naming of parks is also going to be expressly prohibited, as doing so, in the view of city communications director Lisa Corcoran, 鈥渃ommonly generates feedback from those with strong opinions or intrinsic motivation on the topic鈥.听
What a bizarre justification for snubbing public input, and from a communications director no less. Itsa国际传媒 like saying we should ban elections because only people who care about the result bother to vote.
Councillors told staff to keep fine-tuning the policy but they expressed general support for the idea of not naming future parks and buildings after real people, and not letting people have any say in the naming of such future assets.听
The city steadfastly refuses to put massive public work projects to referenda, and it cherry picks the kind of input it does receive from various surveys to claim support for whatever it is doing.
Listening to the discussion on the proposed new naming policy for parks, you鈥檙e again left with the sense that the City of sa国际传媒 thinks sa国际传媒 would be a really great place if the citizens would just get out of the way.听
- Ron Seymour is a sa国际传媒 Courier reporter.听
