Yonge-Dundas Square/Sankofa Square (Brown + Storey Architects)

[allengeorge]

Chair of Yonge-Dundas Square resigns over landmark’s renaming

Mike Fenton said in a resignation letter council’s vote to rename the downtown landmark left no chance for its board or the public to be consulted.

www.thestar.com

“ The man in charge of managing Yonge-Dundas Square says he's resigning over last week's city council vote to rename the downtown landmark.

In a letter to the head of council's civic appointments committee on Wednesday, Mike Fenton, chair of the Yonge-Dundas Square Board of Management, said he supports the city's effort to find a new name for the facility…

But Fenton said council's Dec. 14 decision to relabel the Yonge-Dundas "Sankofa Square," which came shortly after an advisory committee selected the new name on Dec. 12, gave the public and the board no opportunity to weigh in "on this critical decision for city residents."”

 

[DSC]

Chair of Yonge-Dundas Square resigns over landmark’s renaming

Mike Fenton said in a resignation letter council’s vote to rename the downtown landmark left no chance for its board or the public to be consulted.

www.thestar.com

“ The man in charge of managing Yonge-Dundas Square says he's resigning over last week's city council vote to rename the downtown landmark.

In a letter to the head of council's civic appointments committee on Wednesday, Mike Fenton, chair of the Yonge-Dundas Square Board of Management, said he supports the city's effort to find a new name for the facility…

But Fenton said council's Dec. 14 decision to relabel the Yonge-Dundas "Sankofa Square," which came shortly after an advisory committee selected the new name on Dec. 12, gave the public and the board no opportunity to weigh in "on this critical decision for city residents."”

It is not really accurate to say that Mr Fenton 'managed' YDS. He was the citizen volunteer Chair of the YDS Board of Management. The Star article gives a bit more background: "While I support the selection of a new name for YDS — the lack of a consistent, public review to evaluate this decision has been disjointed and lacking good governance," wrote Fenton, who said he was asked to provide a quote for the city press release announcing the renaming with only 30 minutes' notice.
"As a lifetime Toronto resident and civic-appointed YDS Board member, this is not the process I would expect to see for a legacy decision, impacting a landmark Toronto public square."
The board is the city agency that manages, operates and maintains the square. Fenton, who has been a member since 2015 and the chair since 2019, said his resignation was effective immediately. He did not respond to a request for comment. "

I think this is another example of the City not taking the (usually volunteer) committees it appoints seriously. Chow and Moise clearly wanted to get this finished with and it was added to the Council agenda as an "urgent motion' at the last minute. Not the best way to encourage citizen volunteers and it was hardly so urgent it could not have waited until the next Council meeting. The re-naming of the Etobicoke stadium was another, though THAT was at least on the advance agenda.

EDIT: Of course, there ARE real emergencies but it is a 'loophole' used far too often by Councilors and allowed by the Speaker. There were FIFTEEN Member Motions added to the agenda at Council last week as "Urgent". Almost all were not obvious emergencies!

 

[thecharioteer]

Council also failed in following its own policies with regards to renaming streets (my bolding of Section 6.1.3):

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/8b5c-ecs-enginfo-2017-street-naming-policy.pdf

6. Renaming City Streets

6.1 A proposal to rename a Street is to be made using the Street Naming Application through Engineering & Construction Services and at minimum is to include:
6.1.1 Rationale for changing the name and significance of the proposed name;
6.1.2 Relevance of the proposed name to the Street;
6.1.3 Documented support, including but not limited to petitions and support letters, from at least 75 percent of property owners that abut the street;
6.1.4 A map or an illustration, including major intersections of the street to be renamed; and
6.1.5 Proposed Street names that portray aboriginal significance or are after an aboriginal individual, organization or event will require consultation with aboriginal communities and adherence to appropriate aboriginal practices or protocols.

 

[Northern Light]

Chair of Yonge-Dundas Square resigns over landmark’s renaming

Mike Fenton said in a resignation letter council’s vote to rename the downtown landmark left no chance for its board or the public to be consulted.

www.thestar.com

“ The man in charge of managing Yonge-Dundas Square says he's resigning over last week's city council vote to rename the downtown landmark.

In a letter to the head of council's civic appointments committee on Wednesday, Mike Fenton, chair of the Yonge-Dundas Square Board of Management, said he supports the city's effort to find a new name for the facility…

But Fenton said council's Dec. 14 decision to relabel the Yonge-Dundas "Sankofa Square," which came shortly after an advisory committee selected the new name on Dec. 12, gave the public and the board no opportunity to weigh in "on this critical decision for city residents."”

Not their only problem.

Councillor Matlow on behalf of the TTC saying similar things............we were not consulted and Council/the Mayor does not direct the TTC to do anything; the Commission does.

Of course, let's kid no one, the Mayor and Council have a rather large influence on the TTC, that said, this is another protocol blunder and it doesn't look good.

Matlow signalling as a Commissioner, this may not go anywhere quick at TTC.

 

[Dan416]

Not their only problem.

Councillor Matlow on behalf of the TTC saying similar things............we were not consulted and Council/the Mayor does not direct the TTC to do anything; the Commission does.

Of course, let's kid no one, the Mayor and Council have a rather large influence on the TTC, that said, this is another protocol blunder and it doesn't look good.

Matlow signalling as a Commissioner, this may not go anywhere quick at TTC.

Honestly I can live with renaming Yonge-Dundas Square (when did it even become Yonge-Dundas Square from Dundas Square which is what I always remembered it as when I was younger anyway?) but this name doesn't seem like the right fit to me, and the way it was rammed through is really questionable.

But leave the subway station alone. They couldn't bother to rename Eglinton station to Eglinton-Yonge and now they want to rename Dundas? Blah. Rename Dundas West to Roncesvalles and leave actual Dundas station alone.

 

[flonicky]

Why don't they rename Eglinton Station to Eglington Station?

 

[allengeorge]

“ "The Dundas discussion has been around for two years," she added. "There have been 19 meetings. My goodness, you know, at some point, you can process and process everything, but you need to make a decision. If not, then we just go around and around and around. We need to make a decision."”

From: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-mayor-chow-year-end-interview-1.7066677

I’m really sympathetic to Chow’s argument here. The city manages to move so slowly sometimes. Also, I’m grown-up enough to realize there’s some canny political cynicism here: by doing this right at the end of year before holidays, she takes this hit now but removes these ‘cultural war’ issues off the table before the really painful decision that will use up all her political capital: the budget.

 

[Lyphe]

“ "The Dundas discussion has been around for two years," she added. "There have been 19 meetings. My goodness, you know, at some point, you can process and process everything, but you need to make a decision. If not, then we just go around and around and around. We need to make a decision."”

From: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-mayor-chow-year-end-interview-1.7066677

I’m really sympathetic to Chow’s argument here. The city manages to move so slowly sometimes. Also, I’m grown-up enough to realize there’s some canny political cynicism here: by doing this right at the end of year before holidays, she takes this hit now but removes these ‘cultural war’ issues off the table before the really painful decision that will use up all her political capital: the budget.

I agree.

I mean, boil it down to what it is. We all knew the name was changing. The new name seems fine and fully in the spirit of the reason for us changing the name in the first place. So what's up with the resignations? Egos? Hurt they weren't included. Wanted 10 more meetings? The layers upon layers of discussion and consultation reminds me of the Vogons from HGTTG. In the end, council is elected to run the city and make decisions. That's what they did. We move on.

 

[allengeorge]

The layers upon layers of discussion and consultation reminds me of the Vogons from HGTTG.

There’s definitely a case to be made that the Mayor should have just streamlined the process, and then run the renaming through that process.

Honestly, Toronto tries to process-ify everything, so I get why she was annoyed.

 

[flonicky]

If the process needs to be streamlined, the city could adopt a policy of restoring and using indigenous names for renamings for a set period of time. In terms of names, the historic roots of this place are virtually invisible in this city. Indigenous names are the true sounds of this place. When you go out of the city to an indigenous community and hear the names of those places, they resonate because you're hearing the sounds that came from the people living directly with that land and environment. The objective isn't to recreate some lost past, but to ensure that those words and names have a place in the future. If we want to acknowledge the land, do it with true names.

 

[afransen]

As a silver lining, one benefit of such a bland and ahistorical name for the square is that it will be uncontroversial to rename it in future when we can agree on a fitting dedication.

One wonders why there was not more of a public process on this. Any number of great suggestions in this thread alone... I like Marshall McCluhan Square or Downie-Wenjack Square as these at least have some cultural resonance in Toronto.

 

[picard102]

The new name seems fine

I mean that's kind of the issue. It's not fine.

 

[old boy]

If the process needs to be streamlined, the city could adopt a policy of restoring and using indigenous names for renamings for a set period of time. In terms of names, the historic roots of this place are virtually invisible in this city. Indigenous names are the true sounds of this place. When you go out of the city to an indigenous community and hear the names of those places, they resonate because you're hearing the sounds that came from the people living directly with that land and environment. The objective isn't to recreate some lost past, but to ensure that those words and names have a place in the future. If we want to acknowledge the land, do it with true names.

If we are to rename streets, parks etc. why not honour people who lived here and contributed to the greater good of Toronto, culturally, scholastically, or economically , or name them after local geographical or historical points of interest. The city has chosen over time to be an "Every-city" , a stand-in for somewhere else to the point where we don't always recognize the richness right in front of us. Respecting the teachings and lessons of the past has many and diverse cultural origins. A little more time taken in the choosing a name to respect this idea, would have been better.

 

[EnviroTO]

For all the things you would think that you would have a public outreach on, you would think the renaming of landmarks and major streets would be one of them. There is a policy on renaming streets requiring 75% because there are real costs to businesses updating website, signs, business cards, etc... and when you say your business is at Dundas and Ossington people know where it is. One key thing that all marketers know is that brand has value, and name recognition has value. More people hear Dundas St and think "I know where that is, that is downtown and easily accessible by transit" than hear Dundas St and think "that bastard delayed abolition". Some people hear Sankofa and think "I'm not interested in instant decaf coffee".

The process should have been:
1. Public outreach on should we consider renaming. I think to some degree this happened... but I'm not sure what the findings were. Really there are many streets named after people and people are not universally popular nor perfect... there should be a policy on changing the names of things to people and away from people that can be used as a template going forward.
2. Public outreach on proposed namings to determine suitable finalists (i.e. ruling out Streety McStreetface)
3. Public vote on names.

People hearing that a limited number of people chose a name doesn't yell "inclusiveness" and rushing it through council as urgent doesn't smell right to me. Hopefully this is tied to a deal where Sanka pays for the costs of this rebrand.

 

[Mrgeosim]

There’s definitely a case to be made that the Mayor should have just streamlined the process, and then run the renaming through that process.

Honestly, Toronto tries to process-ify everything, so I get why she was annoyed.

Large organizations with diverse stakeholders have to process-ify decision making, otherwise you get little despots that run everything.

It was a little surprising to wake up one day to discover that the city was moving forward with renaming one of the most well-known landmarks in the city. Especially with this decision coming on the heels of the Province bailing Toronto out of its financial troubles (*pending Federal support), it did feel like Chow was content to put her feet up, relax, and start work on her pet projects.

Personally, I don't think the country and language of Ghana should be honored in this way. They have a terrible human rights record and Ghana was instrumental in the slave trade for 400 years! I resent that the "powers that be" thought they could ram a name like Sankofa Square down our throats without even a hint of a change along those lines. Put it out to a vote, involve people, hear the voices of Torontonians... You might even discover that a good number of them don't want to see Dundas removed in the first place.