Winning name announced for new waterfront park

TORONTO, June 16 /CNW/ - Sherbourne Commons has been selected as the new name for East Bayfront's signature waterfront park following a city-wide naming contest which invited members of the public to submit their ideas for a new park name and to vote for their favourites online. The new name, which incorporates the park's location with the idea of 'the commons' where park spaces belong to the people, must now be approved by Toronto and East York Community Council on June 22.

More than 500 names were submitted and thousands of people voted online during the month and a half long park naming contest. Sherbourne Commons, submitted by Doug Dent, received the most number of votes during the final round of voting followed by Merchant's Wharf Park and Tkaronto Park. Once approved by Community Council, the park will be officially renamed when it opens later this summer.

"It's very fitting that the winning name, which reflects the idea that public spaces belong to the people, would come out of a public naming contest," said John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto. "As we transform East Bayfront from industrial, underutilized lands into one of Canada's most sustainable and technologically advanced communities, the name Sherbourne Commons, will serve as a continual reminder that the waterfront is first and foremost about the people who will use it."

The "Rename Sherbourne Park" contest was launched on April 26 by Waterfront Toronto and online news website Torontoist to give people a chance to become part of the history of the waterfront. Between April 26 and May 14, members of the public were invited to submit their park names to www.torontoist.com/park.

A shortlist of eight names, developed by a selection committee representing a broad range of voices in the community, including local City Councillor Pam McConnell, was released on May 31. The shortlist was also vetted by the City of Toronto Parks, Recreation and Forestry Division to ensure the names met the parks naming criteria outlined in the City of Toronto's Policy Statement on Naming and Renaming Park & Recreation Facilities & Parks.

During the semi-final round of voting, between May 31 and June 7, members of the public ranked their favourite of the eight shortlisted park names. The three top ranked park names - Merchant's Wharf Park, Sherbourne Commons and Tkaronto Park - were then put forward to the public for a final round of voting.

The park's working name - Sherbourne Park - was based on its location at the foot of Lower Sherbourne Street in the heart of East Bayfront, a new waterfront community currently under construction between Jarvis St. and Parliament St. The new waterfront park is transforming a once grim, industrial area into much needed public greenspace on the lake. When it opens this summer, it will give Torontonians access to a part of the lakefront they have never been able to enjoy.

Mr. Dent, the winner of the Rename Sherbourne Park contest, will receive a commemorative rendering of the park and will be invited to be part of the park's opening celebrations later this summer.

The official contest rules and the City of Toronto's Policy Statement on Naming and Renaming Park & Recreation Facilities & Parks are available on www.torontoist.com/park. Contest details are available in the Rename Sherbourne Park Contest Backgrounder http://news.waterfrontoronto.ca/.

Waterfront Toronto

The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto's waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

Torontoist

Torontoist focuses on absolutely everything interesting related to Toronto, including news, arts, events, culture, transit, politics, photography, advertising, street art and graffiti, food, and a whole lot more. Established in October 2004 as part of the thirteen-city Gothamist network, Torontoist is now published by Ink Truck Media, and has become the largest, most influential, and most widely-read website of its kind in Canada.

For further information: Samantha Gileno, Waterfront Toronto - 416.271.1316 or [email protected]