Fuzzy Boundaries

The discussion about using the word "Junction" as part of our neighbourhood's name is certainly an interesting one! I didn't expect it to get so heated at this point in the process.

But this topic isn't new, and it has come up frequently right from the very start of this process. Not just from residents of The Junction either, but from people within the Fuzzy Boundaries area. There are many people around here who want to carve out a unique identity for this neighbourhood, and avoid the "me too" feeling of using "Junction" in the name.

Also, the name "Junction Triangle" often leads to confusion. If you tell someone that you live in the "Junction Triangle", there's a good chance that they'll assume you live in the Keele and Dundas area. Some people also seem to use "Junction" and "Junction Triangle" interchangeably for both areas. A good example of this is a newspaper article from the 1980's that spoke about pollution in this area, and seemed to waffle back and forth using both of those names. A current annoying example of confusion between these names is on the Flickr photography site. If you geotag a photo to place it at Campbell Park, it will correctly label the location as "Junction Triangle". But it uses the same name if you take a photo at Dundas and Keele! D'oh!
Junction Triangle photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/places/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/Junction%20Triangle/
Flickr's map:
http://www.flickr.com/places/info/23399826

The most popular name for this neighbourhood, right now, seems to be "Junction Triangle". This name has been in use since about the late 1970's, was used often in the 1980's and seems to have faded somewhat since then. You can still hear it being used pretty regularly though. Something I'd like to know is: If there's so much uproar over this name now from Junction residents, was there the same amount of uproar in the 70's and 80's when this name was at its peak of usage?

When the Village of West Toronto Junction was founded in 1884, and then morphed into the Town of West Toronto Junction in 1889, and then became the City of West Toronto in 1908, did residents of Toronto protest the re-use of the name "Toronto"? Were Torontonians worried about becoming residents of "East Toronto"? Did they tell residents of The Junction, Hey! Stop using our name!" :-)

I actually like the name "Junction Triangle" alot. It's very appropriate for this fuzzy boundaries area. However, the confusion over the name is definitely a major strike against using anything with the work "Junction" in it.

On a related note: "York" seems to be a really bad example of name re-use / abuse. Toronto was previously called "York", named after a place in England. Then came York Township, which eventually became the City of York just north of the City of Toronto. But that got swallowed up by amalgamation. Further north was North York, also swallowed up by Toronto. Keep going north and you end up in York Region. Maybe we'll swallow them up too, but do we really want to? Oh, and don't forget about East York, and Yorkville (where you can probably find people carrying Yorkies in their purses). Plus a million other places named York all over the world.

I'm 28 and was born and raised on the corner of dundas west/keele st. I still live in the junction and have seen the neighborhood go through a lot changes-mostly good. And why on earth would we consider changing the name? It sounds like it's the boundaries of the neighborhood that need to be defined, not the name!
Keep The Junction!!!!!!

Positive changes can happen in many forms. There is opportunity for many different projects within a community. In the end,
all problems will never be erased, thus is the foible of being human, never perfect but continually striving for betterment in
many different ways and with many different opinions. There should be opportunity for other ideas to flourish despite some disagreement, especially when many other residents are seeing the benefits of any given project.

There are no absolutes in each answer, just an open mind and a generous spirit to share the community with others.

A big thank you to our newest sponsors at AYA Kitchens and Baths and realtor Bill Mohan. While the work of volunteers on this project comes for free, printing and postage has a price. We could not reach the hundreds of residents participating in the Fuzzy Boundaries naming project without the financial contributions of companies and business people like Bill Mohan and AYA Kitchens and Baths.
Castlepoint Realty Partners, who are working on the Tower Automotive property, signed on before Christmas and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their on-going financial support.

It is really amazing to see ten names emerge from a list of 230 suggestions. What a cool process!

Sally Hewson did a great presentation at the last public meeting and I am glad to see her suggestion made it to the final round. Of the three Junction possibilities, I think East Junction is the clearest. It distinguishes us from the existing Junction and is much shorter than South Junction Triangle.

It is hard to know which Rail name is the best when they are so closely related. At this point (for me), it's a toss-up between The Triangle and The Wedge.

In the second (and final) round of voting, anyone wishing to vote in person using a paper ballot will be able to do so at three locations in the neighbourhood.

In the north end, you can vote at the Perth/Dupont location of the Toronto Public Library at 1589 Dupont Street. Carmen and the staff at the library have been hugely supportive of the project since it began and we appreciate their effort and contributions to the project very much.

Yasi of Yasi's Place at Wallace and Campbell Avenue will again be providing an opportunity to vote in the centre of the neighbourhood. If you would like to ponder the choices over a latte, Yasi's is the place to go.

At the south end of the neighbourhood, you will also be able to vote in person at Nonna's Place at 1540 Bloor Street West (right at the intersection of Symington and Bloor). We suggest you stuff yourself with one of their amazing Italian sandwiches rather than the ballot box.

Voting begins on March 1st and of course, you can always vote online here at www.fuzzyboundaries.ca

I read an article in the Toronto Star in January where the person interviewed referred to the area as "The Junction Village" and I really liked that. I wish that someone had suggested it for this. I didn't know about this naming process at that time.

now that the top 10 have been chosen,

Black Oak Triangle
East Junction
Junction Triangle
Perth Park
railPath
Railtown
Rail District
South Junction Triangle
The Triangle
The Wedge

the discussion should move on to which is the most desirable to serve the neighbour hood.

"What if" comments no longer add to the choosing of the most suitable name, so lets hear your comments about how your favourite of the ten would be best.

I'm a little disappointed that more history-related names didn't make the list. I would have liked to see a Shedden on there, or a Royce-related name.

Someone mentioned to me the other day that Rail District sounds businessy, or galleryish, like Distillery District -- not so much like a community or a neighbourhood. Just something to mull. And Railtown sounds more and more to me like something out of an old western.

These two are my least favourite. We already have a Railpath and a Perth Park, so to me it's confusing to name a neighbourhood after them. One of the things people don't like about the name JT is that it's confusing, so this is something to watch out for and consider when selecting the top three of the ten.

Someone at the meeting suggested "triangle" should at least be part of the name, as a way of paying homage to the Junction Triangle, a name that came about in the 70s when there were so many pollution problems from the industry in the area. Actually I guess it's the people who fought for a cleaner neighbourhood that we'd be paying homage to, rather than the name itself. I like that idea -- but also understand people's aversion to the word "junction" since it lumps us in with another, better-known area. So I'm glad to see triangle appears so often on the list.

MC Caldwell sent a message using the contact form at http://www.fuzzyboundaries.ca/contact.
Saw your quick interview on CP24 with George today - I love the name RAILTOWN - it is separate from The Junction name therefore really giving your neigbourhood its own unqiue name that is so cool and yet still really does reflect the area from its inception of its most earliest days.Thanks MC

Interesting list. The words "junction," "rail" and "triangle" are obviously popular, judging by how often they are repeated in the list. I'm intrigued to see where people go from here.

Today is the last day to vote for your favourite neighbourhood name in round one of the Fuzzy Boundaries naming project.
You can vote in person at Yasi's Place until 4 p.m. today or at the Perth/Dupont Library until 6 p.m. Online voting is open until 12 midnight.
If you haven't exercised your franchise yet, we hope that you will state your preference before the polls close today.
The Top Ten Neighbourhood Names, as determined by area residents, will be posted here tomorrow (Saturday) morning before Noon.

I think the name Perth Park should be strongly considered. It has a great ring to it, and is also a lovely Park in the center of the area.