http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/arti...naming-streets
Roads scholars pursue all avenues in naming streets
March 15, 2010
Carola Vyhnak
Despite her address on Rainy Day Drive, Pickering resident Leonora Benjamin enjoys just as much blue sky as everyone else.
Carola Vyhnak/Toronto Star
Every day’s a rainy day for Leonora Benjamin. And that’s just fine with the Pickering resident who’s lived under the threat of inclement weather for 23 years.
The residents of Rainy Day Dr., as it turns out, are blessed with just as much blue sky as the folks of, say, Sunshine St. in Toronto. And they’re a cheery bunch to boot.
“It’s a great neighbourhood. Everyone looks out for each other,” says Benjamin, whose family was among the first in the
subdivision where addresses were inspired by Gordon Lightfoot songs.
There was a time when roads and royalty were the moniker match of choice. Hence, the dozens of Kings and Queens, Georges and Victorias that clutter GTA maps. Canada’s historical figures were similarly honoured: Simcoe, Jarvis, Dundas et al. But more recently, municipal policies have turned street-naming into an art that walks a fine line between originality and practicality. If the tag has a nice ring to it, so much the better — unless it’s Cowbell Cr.
That idea hit a dead end with roads scholars in Brampton’s planning department over concerns about offending South Asians who consider the cow a sacred animal, says spokesperson Gordon Smith.
Their policy calls for “high-quality names that reflect a positive image for the city” and limits to 30 the number of streets starting with the same three letters. The reason? Emergency services’ computer screens can only show 30 names at a time.
Uniqueness may be a tall order in the name game but Elaine Bedard thinks Giraffe Ave. measures up nicely.
“I have a funny feeling some school kids had a say in it,” she muses, adding her address triggers a “say what?” from strangers. “They hesitate a bit because they don’t know how to spell it. So I say ‘as in the animal.’”
Bedard’s neighbourhood in north Brampton offers a walk on the wild side, with roads named Zebra, Leopard and Badger.
Life on Easy St. in Richmond Hill is just what you’d expect, says longtime denizen Ann Rosa.
“People tend not to believe you when you say you live on Easy St. But it’s a great street to live on, it’s safe and everyone’s friendly,” says Rosa, whose family home is a holler from Harmony Hill, Neighbourly Lane and Pleasantville Public School.
“I feel like I’m living in a movie,” she laughs.
Ann Lorenc knows the feeling. Everyone gets along on Friendly Dr. in Etobicoke, where mostly older folks inhabit the handful of houses.
“Once you move in, you never move out,” she says of the close-knit community she’s lived in for 30 years. “We do things for each other; we have a unique support system.”
She brings in others’ garbage bins, drives one neighbour to medical appointments and helps another with computer problems.
A street’s name can either attract people or put them off, according to Murtaza Haider, a business professor and director of housing and mobility at Ryerson University who’s studied the phenomenon. But it was a personal house-hunting experience that drove it home. He and his wife looked at two almost identical homes in the same area. One was on Oldfield, the other on Tizzard.
“My wife said, ‘I would not have an address with Tizzard Ave. in it.’ She just didn’t like the name.”
The jury’s still out on “OMB Folly” in a new development in North York. Local politicians who were poking fun at the Ontario Municipal Board may yet take the high road and change the controversial name once a building permit is issued, says a city spokesperson.
Ice Cream Lane gets a warm reception for its name from Sondra Watson, who lives in the tiny enclave northeast of the Beach in Toronto. But her neighbours, she chuckles, are on the “cold” side. “They never wave to you, they don’t do cookouts. It’s not Mister Rogers’ neighbourhood.”
On the plus side, the mother of two teenagers is right around the corner from St. Clair Ice Cream shop on Danforth Ave. “It’s a kids’ fantasy come true,” says Watson. “People say, ‘You live where?’ ”
Roads scholars pursue all avenues in naming streets
