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A fun initiative that we can all get behind: Rename Guelph Park to Dude Chilling Park

November 23rd, 2012 · 45 Comments

Sadly, I heard Aaron Jasper of the Vancouver park board on the radio this morning saying the sign has been changed and the board doesn’t have the power to rename the park. But let’s keep fighting, folks. Maybe we can’t stop climate change or end poverty in Africa. But here’s something we can accomplish.

There’s a petition going to rename the park. To the barricades!

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Trish French

    The City sometimes approves the use of a sort of “overlay” name for streets. I recall “Wasserman’s Beat” for a section of Hornby, and I think the street near the Greek Orthodox Church on Arbutus has commemorated a Patriarch of that religion. They don’t change the official name, but they erect special signage. Maybe Park Board should start a similar program. Perhaps they could auction off temporary “naming” rights for periods of time. You could bid to “name” your local park after your sweetie for a year. Great anniversary or Valentine’s Day present. And a little profit centre for the hardpressed Park Board.

  • Stuart

    Actually it is possible. Think of Pigeon Park. It is officially called Pioneer Park but the unofficial name has become the one everybody uses. Even the park Board recognizes Pigeon as its used name.

  • Raingurl

    Thanks. Such a cute and happy way to start a cold and wet weekend. Off to the pub, I say! I did chill in this park one night in September until it got cold. It was fun.

  • Bill Lee

    Chilling Dude / Mec sévère (Refroidissement?)
    (since all the information signs left over from the Olympics so many years are ago have maps in French and English.)

    theprovince.com/entertainment/Artist+behind+Dude+Chilling+Park+sign+comes+forward/7602959/story.html

    and earlier
    theprovince.com/news/vancouver/Secret+sign+maker+renames+Vancouver+Guelph+Park+Dude/7595875/story.html

    with a photo each of the former ‘official-looking’ sign by the Emily Carr graduate.

    And what a sad history has Guelph Park (its former name), had in the past decades, with Mount Pleasant Elementary beside it.

  • Bill Lee

    On se calme.

    Entendre parler de l’école Mount Pleasant, le Centre d’Achat Kingsgate est sur “Mount Pleasant #1
    Kingsway and Broadway ( 1887 – 1972 )
    Original False Creek School, the old Mount Pleasant building, at Broadway and Kingsway, was replaced by the new one across the street in 1892. Moved to new site on Guelph Street in 1972.”

  • Rowbat

    I spoke to Mr & Mrs Chilling this afternoon, and they want everyone to know that their son Dude had nothing to do with this act of vandalism.

  • Chris Keam

    Let’s face it. A sign or lack thereof makes no difference now. It is Dude Chilling Park forevermore and we are richer for it.

  • Roger Kemble

    We could have even more fun with . . .

    http://www.theyorkshirelad.ca/6urbandesign/vancouver.square/vancouver.square.html

    . . . preempting your, no doubt, future posting here of today’s G&M article “Vancouver to reopen Robson Street Dec. 1”

    . . . this should be much more fun than watching a “Dude Chilling” in a park!

    I hope the opening presages a future re-look, re-thinq and re-designof this potential important public space.

    What with Woodward’s, Rize, Marine Gateway and now Oakridge the town is being divided into locked down gated ghettos.

    (Oh and BTW since when was G&M code unable to handle www links?)

  • Roger Kemble

    PS So the no fun Parks Board quickly took it down . . . what do they do for laughs?

  • Sarah Blyth

    We have it at PBHQ we have a park naming process. If folks want it Dude Chill Park then they need to continue to let us know. It sounds great to me.

  • Bill McCreery

    It’s sad Sarah isn’t it, what’s a little more lost history and the justification for the original park naming is not considered by you and your Vision colleagues to be of any value or relevance. But, if you can suck up to a target constituency and secure a few more votes, hey, that’s fair game i’nit?

  • David

    Park Board deadlocked on key issue. Do Dudes include Dudettes? Or is Dudette dated?

    Portside Park or Crab Beach at Portside Park or Crab Park at Portside? They can’t please everyone… or can they? Spanish Bank(s) sign with a flashing s?

    Wasserman’s Beat… If you’re under 50, maybe your grampa told stories of a cave with Rolf, Mitzi, Isy, Hy…. http://blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com/2008/10/wassermans-beat-vancouvers-short-memory.html

  • Sarah Blyth

    Bill of course everything will be considered we have a naming process but as I understand it it was named after a Street if there is any History we are missing we will hear about it from staff or residents. But there are other options. One person suggests to have it rotating at different Parks. In any case I like it and I think its creative and it seems to make people happy.

  • Chris Keam

    “History: The site was named Guelph Park on March 13, 1972, after the bounding street which in turn recognized the family name of Queen Victoria.”

    All I needed to know. I see no reason to celebrate a bunch of royals who renounced their own name the moment it got inconvenient, ie: Hanover to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. I guess I just don’t know my place.

  • Sarah Blyth

    Thank you for the info Chris.

  • Sarah Blyth

    Sometimes change is a good thing.

  • Bill McCreery

    Thanks Chris for your info. Assuming it is accurate, then, yes a name change might be justified. I’m not anti- royalist and like it or not they are a part of our history. However, parks are public facilities and although they might have a particular focus, they should be inviting and accessible to a wide spectrum of the population, so IMO the official name should be more neutral and if at a point in time it caters to a particular use an unofficiL name might well be attached to it n

  • Bill McCreery

    Sorry, IPhone typing…

    Sarah I assume you are aware of the conflicts your imposition of your Mt. Pleasant skate board facility have and continue to impose on the neighbourhood. Perhaps you should address the concerns of those neighbours before moving on to another park.

  • Sarah Blyth

    Bill, It’s just a fun conversation to be having in a world with so much stress. There have been a lot of people responding to the sign. Lots of different groups want it for different things. Elm park Fieldhouse, Vancouver Museum, a few nameless parks have been sugested and a rotating sign are just a few. I am open to everything.

  • gman

  • Chris Keam

    “Assuming it is accurate”

    That park got named under your watch Bill? How much research was done before that park ended up being associated with a family that had to change its name to avoid the unpleasant reality that it was helping send English and Canadian boys into a meat grinder of a war… against the very same country their family had ‘ruled’ less than a century prior to the ‘Great War’?

    As you may tell, I an anti-royalist, and damn proud of it. Always thought this little bit of wisdom needed a higher profile:

    Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
    – Denis Diderot

  • Chris Keam

    Oops, the topic of monarchies makes me type too fast.

    “I am an anti-royalist”

  • brilliant

    Chris Keam-Quelle surprise. Don’t they revoke your membership if you fail to tick all the boxes in the left column?

  • Bill Lee

    I was by the south-west corner on Saturday night and the two support posts were there. Ready for a sign (everywhere a sign!!….) and who would put them there?

    While putting names on obscure grass fields is useful, this stunt calls into action a monthly renaming of these soggy underused British style play fields.

    Maple Grove park to become “Smash the Bourgeoisie” to annoy the many mansions across the street that regard it as their private green commons.

    Habitat Island park to become “Refugees welcome”
    Major Matthews park to become “Anglo history starts here”
    And the infamous McAuley Park to become “Revolution Triangle”

  • Chris Keam

    @Brilliant:

    Sorry man, but my politics are my own… a mish-mash of what works for the common good, be it free markets or free education. Labels are for consumer goods, not thoughts.

  • Bill McCreery

    Don’t remember the naming process, but my watch acquired / created the following parks:

    Jericho with the Feds
    All South False Creek parks
    False Creek Seawall
    West End Mini-parks
    Fraser View
    Granville Island with the Feds
    Stanley Park Entrance
    Added 66 actress to Langara Golf Course
    Aberthau CC and Brock House Seniors Centre and grounds with the Feds
    Granville Mall
    Bowmac

  • Bill McCreery

    Here’s some more:

    (by the way we didn’t add “actresses” rather acres)

    Ed Growley Park
    Champlain Heights and Arbutus Gardens linear parks
    Wall and Pt. Grey Road Street-end parks
    Thunderbird

    In addition, we set the parks and seawall policies for False Creek North and Coal Harbour, as well as an urban recreation trails policy to connect major parks.

    Subsequent TEAM Park Bd. / Council park acquisition efforts included Pacific Spirit and Fraser View.

    That’s all I remember. It added several hundred acres of park to the City in very strategic locations. That’s a legacy I am very proud to have been a part of.

  • Chris Keam

    Bill:

    It’s probably a bit unrealistic to expect anyone to remember the naming process from 40 years ago, but in your initial post you made a point of bringing up the history and justification for the name, and then accuse Ms. Blyth of pandering for votes, when all she did was say that there’s a process people can follow if they want it renamed, and she likes the idea.

    The facts are these: It was named after a street that ran beside the original boundary of the park. The piece of the street that it used to adjoin is now a school playground. There is a piece of public art in that park, that is a figure of a human reclining… a ‘dude chilling’ if you will. So, by some measures, this suggested new name makes way more sense than keeping it named after a guy who it turns out, was a great example of why we shouldn’t bow and scrape to those of ‘noble birth:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom

  • Chris Keam

    “That’s a legacy I am very proud to have been a part of.”

    As well you should. But I don’t think it gives you license to accuse another politician of pandering for votes, when it appears they are listening to ‘the people’. No doubt naming things after British royalty was still the fashion in ’72… was that pandering to votes?

  • Bill McCreery

    Chris, you’re sidestepping the real issue in this matter. Your ideas of the importance or not of “royalty” is irrelevant. The respect for the principles I mentioned, and what should be the following policies and execution are important. These should, hopefully, be in the mind of any Park Commissioner irrespective of their era.

    For a second opinion please see Stuart MacKinnon’s site:

    http://betterparks.blogspot.ca/

  • Chris Keam

    “The respect for the principles I mentioned, and what should be the following policies and execution are important.”

    Yes, I believe that was mentioned in Ms Blyth’s first post #10 and reiterated to you in post #13.

    You referenced the history and justification for the name, and then admitted you can’t remember the process for naming this park. So, there’s that, but it’s irrelevant really.

    From my perspective, the issue here is your unwarranted and mean-spirited criticism of a politician who has indicated they are willing to observe the process you’re referencing… and in fact mentioned it before you tried to score some political points.

  • Glissando Remmy

    Thought of The Night

    “… and who knows, one day, based on the same rationale, the “Emery Barnes” Park will be renamed the “Doggy Central” Park… right?”

    Just saying.
    As the park is becoming ever so popular with dog people and their dogs… you never know!

    Though, I wonder… what would Constance Barnes have to say about something like this, potentially, happening, in-the-future…

    Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, it’s possible, if Sarah Blyth says it is…

    “In any case I like it and I think its creative and it seems to make people happy.”
    Or…
    “Sometimes change is a good thing.”

    There!
    So it is possible.
    All that’s needed is for the sycophant of the day to throw a banner over the original sign and start an ‘overwhelming twitter support’ campaign… supported by all six of them!
    Right?

    Who knows, one day, people might start calling me by my increasing popular name “The Anonymous Jackass” or “The Hasheater” , whatever makes the crowd happy.

    Eh, Crash Mike & Bat Harshly !?
    … ” I am open to everything.”

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • David

    Athletic Park in South Vancouver was renamed Oak park after amalgamation.

    @Bill 26 … Bowmac Park.. Very few Vancouverites would be able to point it out on a map…. Renamed Discovery Square which is almost as obscure a name. May be renamed Art Phillips Square. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ni9mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L4sNAAAAIBAJ&pg=961%2C1368597

  • boohoo

    This is classic political bullshit.

    Park board takes away name—why do they hate the public and fun?
    Park board leaves the name— why do they hate democratic process and established policies?

    Yawn.

  • Brian

    boohoo #34:

    Well said. +1.

  • Bill McCreery

    Sorry Boo, there are principles on the table here. Not everything said here fits your overly simplified viewpoint in this respect.

  • boohoo

    Bill,

    Surely you see my point though I would hope…You attack vision for not following policy while at the same time others attack vision for stifling creativity and being no fun.

    Your list of parks is irrelevant to the discussion, especially given that you can’t even remember the naming process!

  • brilliant

    Why is anyone surprised? This is the same party whose de facto head jumped on the bandwagon to rename Stanley Park X’way X’way so fast it made its more rational backers’ heads spin. Less pandering, more sensible governing please.

  • Chris Keam

    So, just to be clear here, what’s acceptable when it comes to renaming our geography in your opinion? Obviously not names that are 40 years old? Apparently we can’t return to the name a place had for a few thousand years either? Frankly, the only consistency I can spot in this instance is that dead white guy place names are sacrosant.

    What’s the magic sweet spot?

    http://digitalnatives.othersights.ca/2011/04/12/an-anecdote-about-naming-and-language/

  • Bill McCreery

    Boohoo, it was/is not my purpose to “attack” someone here. Are we not having a conversation and expressing differing points of view. Is the glass half full or half empty?

  • Brian

    @Bill M #40

    You said to Sarah Blyth at #11:
    “But, if you can suck up to a target constituency and secure a few more votes, hey, that’s fair game i’nit?”

    That is not a conversation expressing points of view. That is an attack on Sarah. Boohoo has rightly called you out for it. Its disingenuous to pretend you are trying to have a civil discussion after saying that.

  • boohoo

    Yeah, what Brian said.

    And my point is not in the semantics of ‘attack’ but rather the opportunistic political games you and others play with issues like this. It’s depressing.

  • ned

    Chris Keam an “anti – Royalist’? Naaah!

  • d.a.n.

    Yeesh. Sounds like a few of you need to suss out the Chilling Dude statue in what remains Guelph Park and…chill out.

  • Bill Lee

    The Dude lives!

    on the present’s Google maps, according to Todd Coyne’s (North Shore Outlook weekly) screen grab.

    https://twitter.com/toddcoyne/status/289486617213812736/photo/1

    toddcoyne Todd Coyne 2h
    #Vancouver city hall may have ignored the “Dude Chilling Park” petition but Google Maps did not… pic.twitter.com/HImODNfk
    Details