Anonymous parks: what’s in a name?

NRU
May 17, 2017
By Sarah Niedoba

The City of Brampton has 200 public assets without a name and they have been that way since 2014. In the absence of a policy, the city has accumulated a backlog of unnamed parks and buildings.

Under the previous policy, a strict set of naming criteria meant that up to 83 per cent of proposed names were rejected by the naming committee because they were required to match a narrow set of historical and cultural themes.

Last week council approved a new policy with sources for names, such as adjacent streets, unique geographic characteristics and industries associated with the city.

Staff had given many of the unnamed assets temporary names, which will now be reviewed and replaced. Though council will not receive formal reports on new names, staff will consult with councillors about the naming of assets in their wards.

The city had been without a naming committee for two years and nameless spaces had piled up ever since. To address the backlog council directed staff to begin naming assets.