Thursday, October 15, 2009

Fuzzy Boundaries neighbourhood name tryouts chalked on the Railpath

Neighbourhood Name Tryouts

Name Suggestions Chalked from Dupont to Bloor in West Toronto Railpath Park

Who: Fuzzy Boundaries, a group of local residents spearheading a naming project in their West Toronto neighbourhood north of Roncesvalles and east of The Junction.

What: The inscription of all 185 name suggestions (to date) along a section of the West Toronto Railpath stretching from Dupont Street to Bloor Street.

Where: West Toronto Railpath

Wallace Avenue Foot Bridge Entrance

370 Wallace Avenue

When: Thursday, October 15, 2009

(On display all weekend or until the rain washes the slate clean)

Why: Engage the community in the naming project. Naming the neighbourhood gives us a collective identity – something to call our area as a whole – which in turn creates a sense of pride and ownership among residents. This unique display offers everyone a chance to see the names suggested so far and prompt additional ideas before the shortlist is drawn up in January.

Contact: Kevin Putnam

Fuzzy Boundaries

www.fuzzyboundaries.ca

Putnam@sympatico.ca





Neighbourhood Name Tryouts


Name Suggestions Chalked from Dupont to Bloor in West Toronto Railpath Park




Who: Fuzzy Boundaries, a group of local residents spearheading a naming project in their West Toronto neighbourhood north of Roncesvalles and east of The Junction.


What: The inscription of all 185 name suggestions (to date) along a section of the West Toronto Railpath stretching from Dupont Street to Bloor Street.

Where: West Toronto Railpath

Wallace Avenue Foot Bridge Entrance

370 Wallace Avenue


When: Thursday, October 15, 2009



(On display all weekend or until the rain washes the slate clean)

Why: Engage the community in the naming project. Naming the neighbourhood gives us a collective identity – something to call our area as a whole – which in turn creates a sense of pride and ownership among residents. This unique display offers everyone a chance to see the names suggested so far and prompt additional ideas before the shortlist is drawn up in January.


Contact: Kevin Putnam

Fuzzy Boundaries

www.fuzzyboundaries.ca


Putnam@sympatico.ca

13 comments:

  1. This is annoying to me. Make a website, write a newspaper article or design a flyer.
    Is the bikepath now the official sounding board?
    Can I start advertising my garage sales on it?
    My new dog needs a name. Should I write all my choices down on the board?
    How about my grocery list??

    Write the names outside of your office on 299 Perth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John, what aspect of the chalked names bothers you? It washes away with every rainfall. The Park provides an excellent opportunity to build awareness and engage the neighburhood in the naming process. We have received loads of positive comments and feedback about the chalking which has been going on since early August. And you are only the second person to complain. I have to think that the spray-painted tagging that is so prevalent along the Railpath would be a bigger issue.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Spray painted "Tagging" is an issue for sure. You guys are Tagging the path by Toronto bylaw definition: "One or more letters, symbols, figures, etching, scratches, inscriptions, stains, or other markings that disfigure or deface a structure or thing, howsoever made or otherwise affixed on the structure or thing, but, for greater certainty, does not include an art mural".

    Spray painted MURALS are beautiful to look at and have been on that rail path long before you were wellwishing for an identity. The path does not belong to your personal causes.

    Would it be ok if a Neo-Nazi group wrote slogans on it? How about Anti or Pro abortion groups? Should the liberals paint chaulk slogans on the path for the next election? Can COKE or PEPSI make chaulk logos on the path everyday? What's the difference?

    The first time I saw it in August I thought "ok, its a website that somebody is promoting" but now 2 months later you've felt entitiled enough to write on the path from Dupont all the way to Bloor?

    Only a handful of people that live in a very small area care about your naming issue. You made a website, you blogged about it and you even tagged City Of Toronto property openly to promote it. Enough is enough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Again John, what aspect of the chalking bothers you? You raise a number of unrelated scenarios that have no connection to what is actually heppening here. It is a community project supported by the Councillor. You call it tagging when it is chalking. We are not in contravention of any laws. Do police arrest children for chalking on the sidewalk? Of course not. This is a non-issue.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't think this is a "personal causes", I attended the 1st meeting of this group and it sure looked like the community has wanting to be involved, other community groups in the area spoke about their opinion on the issue - a local youth center wanted to be involved.

    take a look at their web site and look at all the suggestions for the name the project got, it a community project I think

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kevin saying Bill Saundercook supports it means nothing, he'll tag his name onto anything as long as it involves little to no effort or involvement.

    I think John's point is that you're using the path as your own personal sounding board. Its not YOURS, its EVERYONES, and outside of the 10 blocks or so that are even remotely concerned with your initiative (btw, you pick a name, then what???? lame!)... no one cares! Why do you feel its your right to write all over the path? I can't wait until someone else writes all over the path in the future months/years, and it becomes a "community hot point" with Gord and Cheri scheduling town halls to discuss the "pressing issue"... L O L

    Seems like the Junction (and surrounding, yet to be named areas) have these crazy insecurities ("why doesn't OUR area have a name...") and ridiculous concerns (*but no concern about the drug dealers!*) that are projected onto any and everyone else in the neighbourhood(s).

    Here's a name for your area: "Too Close to Pelham Park for me to ever Live"

    ReplyDelete
  7. it's Gord Perks in that area Theirry.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yep, and Cheri seems to support most of Gord's movements and ideas so I would expect her to be there too.... theoretically speaking

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gentlemen, John does have a point with this whole naming idea being redundant. According to any maps I've ever seen that area is already called "SILVERTHORN"

    Google it yourself:
    http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=silverthorn+toronto&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Silverthorn,+Toronto,+ON&gl=ca&ei=qObYSreGNc7L8Qbcssy3BQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQ8gEwAA

    ReplyDelete
  10. Blog discussions are a lot like political debates, sometimes they are interesting and ocassionally informative, but they rarely change anyone's mind.
    Just to be clear, the Railpath is situated in Ward 18 and the Councillor is Giambrone. The Railpath is being utilized in a unique way by the community. It is our park and it encompasses the entire Western border of our neighbourhood. If it turned out to be a focal point for community discussions in the future, that would be a great thing. There is not enough engagement (especially at the municipal level) in this town and that is why we elect poor representatives again and again.
    And for the few people who see this as a negative thing, there are hundreds of people in this neighbourhood who have become engaged in the process and a stronger community is going to emerge at the end of the project regardless of the final name choice. So think what you will, but you could do better than attack a community improvement project lead by residents and focus on more pressing issues in the neighbourhood.

    ReplyDelete
  11. sorry about getting Councillors name wrong, Kevin, I still have difficulty remembering all the boundaries

    ReplyDelete
  12. Silverthorn is actually a neighbourhood further north near Rogers Road and Caledonia. Google outsources their mapping to a private company. Despite repreated attempts to get the map corrected by a number of people, the supplier has been unresponsive.

    ReplyDelete
  13. just happened by this blog today. i read the comments on this story and the adult store next to the early years centre. someone is using chalk to write on the path!? oh no!! what will we ever do!!?? btw 'john unction', the article says the exercise 'engaged the community' in a naming project. a little bit different than your 'grocery list' or 'dog name.' and thierry - 'crazy insecurities...projected onto anyone else in the hood'??? i don't even know where to start with that one. you people are just plain sad.

    just sayin. thanks.

    ReplyDelete