At the just past Council meeting, a report was brought forward by the City planner (Page 70, May 9 Agenda) on the implications and steps forward to change the name of the thoroughfare that stretches from one end of the City to the other from Gertrude StreetNameChangeSt, to Stamp Avenue and 3rd Avenue. A portion of 3rd at the end of Morton, above Stamp, would remain.

I and a majority of council supported the recorded motion (Cncl. Sauvé and Washington voted against).  You can see the discussion on Youtube starting at 50:00.

You can see and hear the points I made there but what I thought would be helpful for the discussion on this page would be a list of some of the Pros and Cons as came out during the meeting and have come out since in the lively discussion that has ensued.

Some general information:

  • Cost, to either the City or to affected residents or businesses has not yet been estimated.
  • A name would be chosen by the community.
  • The City and Canada Post would coordinate to update your address automatically (for free) in their systems.
  • The Government of Canada allows you to write in a new address on your Passport if it has changed, a new passport is not required.
  • The Government of BC allows you to change your residential or business address free of charge and reissue new cards for BCID, Drivers License, Care Card, ICBC and MSP through their Address Change website.
  • The City of Ottawa has created a very good page for the numerous changes they have made.  It gives an idea of all of the things that would need to be changed.

Pros vs. Cons. Fill in the table by leaving a comment.

I’ve put the pros and cons that I have heard so far in the table below.  If you think I’ve missed anything, and I am sure I have, please put a comment on this post or PM me on Facebook, or email it to me at chris_alemany@portalberni.ca if you want to do it anonymously and I’ll put it in.

Pro

Con
“Joins” the community together Erases Heritage Street Names
Makes it less confusing for tourists and newcomers. Costs may be too high for both City, residents and business.
A good thing to do in honour of 50th Anniversary of Amalgamation/150th Canada Is not an important initiative at this time. There are more pressing needs.
Opportunity to bring First Nations / Indigenous names to the community Quirky identity of the 3 streets is an asset to the community.
Feature street would help businesses in Uptown and along corridor attract customers.  Removing 3rd Avenue would cause confusion

This is just the beginning of the process and as I have learned many times over the past year and a half, the first motion on a topic is rarely the last motion. I look forward to hearing more input.

There is also the obligatory poll at the AVNews.

11 replies on “What’s in a name of a road that binds us.”

  1. There is no need for this, I deal with tourists all year, not once in 8 years has even one tourists asked why the different names, that the road was confusing (lack of promotion of the harbour quay as place to visit…. Over and over and over, and by people that travel through town a lot), or that it would be easier if it was all one name. To remove third cave would create confusion and a large amount of problems, this senseless and the only reason I can think of is that possibly that council has its own motives. In a time where this town is already raising taxes over and over and cutting things the whole time, this a needless cost and serves no benefit. I talk to people all day at my job, not a single person supported this or could even understand any benefit, (the ones you listed are grasping at straws). Most people just shake their heads at this whole idea.

  2. I think this is ridiculous. Who is going to pay for all the business forms that would have to be changed. No one has ever asked me why there are different names. It just is. Furthermore, every time I drive down Stamp Ave I wondered what bright light gave the go ahead to run the drag races there. Keep it up and there will be an entirely new Council next time around.

  3. There are much more important things. Spending time on renaming a road should not be on our Council’s radar. Any inconvenience or money to our businesses or residents is an unfair use of your time.

    Please focus your attn on making Port Alberni a safe place for Residents and Visitors.

  4. I am sure you have read my comments on other pages but here I go. It seems the pro committee have come up with another excuse for this uneccesary idea of renaming the road. Who ever got the idea that there was some sort of division between Alberni and Port Alberni other than Rogers creek itself. It seems the people who hold this idea dear to there heart just keep coming up with lame excuses. Please quit questioning mine and a lot of other residents intelligence. Most of us have been around long enough to not let the wool get pulled over our eyes. If the city council has nothing better to do than keep coming up with costly ideas for very little gain then maybe they have too much idle time on their hands and there should be some cut backs on council.

  5. This just makes so much common sense to me that I don’t even see a need to make a pro and con chart. I haven’t seen any sensible excuse for 1 street to require 3 names. Let’s just do it and move on – there’s far more anguish over this than it’s worth.

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