Fuzzy Boundaries

Jack

I simply meant that I didn't believe that Mr. Putnam or Scott for that matter would go into Pelham Park Gardens and ask how they would feel if the entire neighbourhood were to become PPG.

I agree with you Jack. I wasn't "misinformed" by anyone or anything. The building on Wallace looks terrible. It looks far more like Vandalism than it does; Art. That is what you consider ART? Even though you're saying that it is Legal Santioned Art, it's still very ugly. Picasso, van Gough and Renoir produced works of art Darling. You should have gone the less greener way because it's obvious that not all the neighbourhood residents agree with what the owner of the building has allowed to happen. You could have actually approached a local elementary school and had some students do a much better job. It would have been more appealing to the eye.

With the final vote only a couple of days away, it's nice to see a flurry of activity discussing the options. Here's something to think about: Some pros and cons for the various Top 10 names (in alphabetical order). What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any other pros/cons for any of these names?

Black Oak Triangle
Pro: (Some of these points taken from Sally's presentation and online postings)

• References both our natural and man-made environment (oak trees, and railway edges)
• The triangle and oak leaf make a good visual
• References our area's past (black oak savannah) and hope for the future (more trees and greenery)
• No fake "village", "gardens", "town" etc.

Con:

• Sounds a bit like those fake suburban neighbourhood names, where they name it after some form of nature that was extinguished to install monster homes

East Junction
Pro:

• Reasonable description of the location

Con:

• Latches on to an existing neighbourhood name
• "East of the Junction" would be more accurate. "East Junction" is more like Indian Rd. and Annette St.
• Some might confuse this as being in the east end of Toronto.
• Sounds kind of boring

Junction Triangle
Pro:

• Most popular and frequently used name already.
• In use since at least the late 1970s
• The Media still uses this name sometimes
• Describes physical shape of the neighbourhood
• Proudly accepts our railway borders
• No fake "village", "gardens", "town" etc.
• The triangle is the strongest geometric shape
• Relatively unique name

Con:

• Confusion with The Junction (neighbourhood to the west of us)
• Latches on to an existing neighbourhood name

Perth Park
Pro:

• Perth Square Park is a long-time feature of our neighbourhood. Perth Ave. is the only street that goes from the very top of our neighbourhood to south of Bloor St. It's a unifying name.

Con:

• Is this park significant enough to name our neighbourhood after?
• Some people have expressed that "Anything Park" sounds like a ghetto or housing project (I don't necessarily agree, but that's some peoples' impression).
• Not very attention-grabbing

Rail District
Pro:

• References the railways without tagging on to The Junction's name

Con:

• "District" sounds like it's either some kind of commercial area, or lke it's on the "wrong side of the tracks".
• Although our area is surrounded by rail, there are other parts of Toronto that probably deserve that name more due to the amount of train traffic, rail car shunting, etc.

Railpath
Pro:

• Yes, we have lots of rail around here.
• West Toronto Railpath is a fantastic and prominent feature of our neighbourhood.

Con:

• The park/trail already has that name.
• If you tell someone that you live in The Railpath, they'll think you're camping out.
• Only the first section of Railpath has been built. When it gets extended to King and Strachan, will that area also fall under the "Railpath" neighbourhood name?

Railtown
Pro:

• References the railways without tagging on to The Junction's name

Con:

• Fake "town" name. This neighbourhood was never a "town" or "village".
• There are already many other Railtowns

South Junction Triangle
Pro:

• A name that's sort of in use already (though really just an offshoot of Junction Triangle)

Con:

• We're not really south of The Junction. More like east, or maybe south-east.
• "South" Junction Triangle could also be mistaken for a southern subset of the Junction Triangle.

The Triangle
Pro:

• Drops the "Junction" part of "Junction Triangle" to eliminate the confusion between the neighbourhoods.
• Stays close to the most common existing name for this neighbourhood (Junction Triangle)
• Describes physical shape of the neighbourhood
• No fake "village", "gardens", "town" etc.
• The triangle is the strongest geometric shape

Con:

• There are other "Triangles" in the West End of Toronto already (West Queen West Triangle, Brockton Triangle, and of course Junction Triangle). Could be some confusion about which one we're referring to.
• In general, not very unique. There are many other uses of "The Triangle".
• Some people say it reminds them of the Bermuda Triangle (But I disagree, we're nowhere near Bermuda).

The Wedge
Pro:

• Short, simple, catchy, and edgy. Can be fun to say.
• Describes the shape of the neighbourhood.
• No fake "village", "gardens", "town" etc.

Con:

• Obvious mockery: Wedgie. (What 'hood do you live in? The Wedge! Oh, you're a Wedgie?)
• A wedge is often used for separating, splitting, or dividing something. Has negative connotations.
• In general, not very unique. There are many other uses of "The Wedge", including neighbourhood names in other cities.

SEE BELOW FOR DEFINITIONS OF TRIANGLE. I ALSO AGREE WITH THE CAMPBELL"S ABOUT THE NAME "THE WEDGE". I'M NOT A BIG FAN OF THAT NAME EITHER. PLUS, DIDN'T THAE GUEST SPEAKER, JANE WHATEVER HER NAME WAS, DIDN"T SHE PICK THE NAME HERSELF. SHE DON" LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY.

Definitions of triangle on the Web:

a three-sided polygon
something approximating the shape of a triangle; "the coastline of Chile and Argentina and Brazil forms two legs of a triangle"
Triangulum: a small northern constellation near Perseus between Andromeda and Aries
any of various triangular drafting instruments used to draw straight lines at specified angles
a percussion instrument consisting of a metal bar bent in the shape of an open triangle
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Triangle is the fourth studio album by American rock group The Beau Brummels. Produced by Lenny Waronker and released in July 1967, Triangle featured the first songs that vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist Ron Elliott composed together. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(The_Beau_Brummels_album)

Triangle was a BBC television soap opera in the early 1980s, set aboard a North Sea ferry which sailed a triangular route between Felixstowe ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(TV_series)

was a Japanese pop group that formed and debuted in the late 70s. They released their first single, Triangle Love Letter is mid 1978 and their last single, Koi wa Tekkiri Ba-Bi-Bu-Be-Bo in 1980. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(Japanese_pop_group)

"Triangle" is the eleventh episode of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)

This article is a list of episodes from The Golden Girls.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triangle_(Golden_Girls_episode)

The Triangle (המשולש, HaMeshulash; المـُثـَلـَّث, al-Muthalath), formerly referred to as the Little triangle, is a ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(Israel)

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted .
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle

A triangle or wye, in rail terminology, is a triangular shaped arrangement of railway tracks with a switch (point) at each corner. In mainline railroads, this is used at a railway junction, where two railways join, or cross over. It can also be used as a stub for turning railway equipment. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(railway)

Triangle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,500 at the 2000 census. It is bounded to the south by the Quantico Marine Corps Base, which surrounds the town of Quantico. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(VA)

Triangle is a '''' novel written by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(novel)

Sadly our neighbourhood is not full of black oaks.

But we can change that! Here is an example: Trees for Toronto is an initiative that cares for the city's tree canopy near Queen's Park. http://bit.ly/bl3IEk

It is my sincere hope that the name Black Oak Triangle would inspire us to make choices that will result in more healthy green spaces here in our own neighbourhood. If you ask for what you want, sometimes you get it.

Whatever name you select, please remember to cast your vote in the days to come.

Hello I've always known this area to be "The Junction" So I would leave it as The Junction,
however the name:Rail District is nice and growing on me.

I am curious though were did "Black Oak Triangle" come from?

Thanks,

Hey Mark, thanks for your comments and the inclusion of your father's ideas about the area name. We have researched the name Junction Triangle and discussed it at length here on the site over the past number of months. Here is a re-post of a blog from last summer. If you go back to the first few pages of the discussion blog you will find other comments from people who have weighed in on the name and its history.

The name Junction Triangle emerged in the mid-seventies when local residents formed a group to fight pollution from the area factories. Major Toronto media picked up on the name and it first appeared in the Globe and Mail in a November 23, 1976 column by Dick Beddoes. The Globe and Mail used the term periodically for the next decade and a half. It was last used by the Globe in a 1993 article about factory closings in the area.
Junction Triangle first appeared in the Toronto Star in a June 1979 ad placed by the City of Toronto about a local planning meeting. It was first used in an editorial context in August of the following year in a story about toxic smells in the neighbourhood. The Star did not use the term from 1992 to 2002 and last published it in a 2003 article.

While long-time residents of the neighbourhood will remember the name, most newcomers to the area have never heard the moniker. The City has applied a number of different names to the neighbourhood over the years and officiallly calls us (at the moment)the Dovercourt-Wallace-Emerson-Junction.

Here's another penny thought...I'm with you re: Junction in the name. I'll be voting for others when the next round comes up!

When can we expect the artist to "tag" the building?

Dear Fuzzy Resident, thank you for your message and comments about the naming project and our neighbourhood.
Let me assure you that while our direct mail campaign has not extended to the east side of the train tracks at Campbell/Rankin, people living on Ward Street have been welcomed to participate in the naming project and a number of your neighbours even voted in the first round.
Our budget simply has not allowed us to extend the reach of the direct mail campaign to areas outside of the triangle of train tracks.
Ward Street was one of the areas we had in mind when we came up with the project name Fuzzy Boundaries. For this second and final round of voting, we hope to be able to extend additional elements of our marketing campaign to your section of the neighbourhood.
We hope that you understand our limitations and won't take it as slight.

Kristen, if someone indicated the same name on all three spots, only the first entry would count and the ballot would be discarded if it came to their second and third choices.
It is much the same for the second scenario you mention. If someone only indicated a first choice on the ballot and left the other two spots blank, only the first choice would count and the ballot would be discarded if it came to their second and third choices.
Hope you see more than one name in the Top Ten you like!

how about eastenders

Nice to hear these ideas. I'm still mulling too. I don't like Railpath much, because it's the trail's name, not a neighbourhood's. And I think East Junction is just inviting more confusion than there already is. I do agree about the length of South and Black Oak. But JT does not sound too long to me so is still in the running. Right now I'm probably sitting with The Triangle, Junction Triangle, and The Wedge. But it could easily change and I welcome solid arguments!

Thanks for your message Fuzzy Resident. The City of Toronto does not have a formal process for naming neighbourhoods. We are already officially part of the "Dovercourt Wallace Emerson Junction" and "Brockton" (south of Bloor) city-defined neighbourhoods and that will not change.

I guess by "official", what we really mean is a standard, common, well-known, well-used and recognizable name. The final outcome of the vote will select an "official" name to be used and promoted by Fuzzy Boundaries and the people that support the process. Beyond that, it's up to everyone else to choose whether they want to use that name "officially". Since the city does not have a formal way to name neighbourhoods, we hope to encourage elected officials and City staff to use the chosen name.

Fuzzy Resident, when you say "your community" can we assume you live in a different neighbourhood? We'd be curious to know where you live and how you can to know about the project?