[Clearshades]

I'm OK with some rebranding but 'West Village'? The question then becomes in which city?

It would be better to researched its history and come up with something more intrinsic to its past imo. For examples: In NYC, 'SOHO' stands for "South Of Houston"; or 'Tribeca' means "Triangle BeLow Canal".

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

I'm OK with some rebranding but 'West Village'? The question then becomes in which city?

It would be better to researched its history and come up with something more intrinsic to its past imo. For examples: In NYC, 'SOHO' stands for "South Of Houston"; or 'Tribeca' means "Triangle BeLow Canal".

To be fair, before Oliver was "Oliver", its official community name was the "West End". Having it be the West Village now could be a nod back to that.

 

[Clearshades]

If that was the only name sure, but this is a homogenized pattern for every city now. Are we wanting a franchising paradigm, or do we care for a more unique approach is the question
At one point, this was the west end of the city hence that calling. That title don't even belong to WEM anymore, so that name could apply to any sector west of the very core point.

 

[positive1]

West Oliver

 

[Kaizen]

West Manchester

 

[ChazYEG]

West Oliver

The whole idea is to get rid of the name Oliver, for reasons I believe are not well suited for debate here, due to their potential for dissent.

 

[EtoV]

^Wow today I learned, I had never though about who it was named after until your comment, so thank you. I won't comment specifics either, but I would encourage everyone to read into Frank Oliver and come to their own conclusions.

 

[Clearshades]

"West Of Oliver"= WOOL because we're not Chinese and can't go "WOO" unless you want to?

 

[MattPT]

If it ends up being something related to Edmontons Cree history, I hope they do more than JUST a name so that it doesn’t end up being pretentious and disingenuous. Would be cool if the whole neighbourhood was curated to be a kind of open air museum of that areas history. After a super quick google, we could use “Natimihk” meaning upstream for Oliver. Instead of stealing from other cities, this could be our own thing. And the area by Stadium yards could be “mâmihk” (downstream). That being said, someone with knowledge of the Cree language might think these words are completely inappropriate, I’m just throwing out a really rough/not properly researched idea lol

​

 

[Clearshades]

That could be looked into. I took the word "Oliver" and mirrored it to "Revilo", and , apparently, that word means "Little Wolf".

 

[Edmcowboy11]

So where are they in regards to renaming the community?

 

[archited]

If it ends up being something related to Edmontons Cree history, I hope they do more than JUST a name so that it doesn’t end up being pretentious and disingenuous. Would be cool if the whole neighbourhood was curated to be a kind of open air museum of that areas history. After a super quick google, we could use “Natimihk” meaning upstream for Oliver. Instead of stealing from other cities, this could be our own thing. And the area by Stadium yards could be “mâmihk” (downstream). That being said, someone with knowledge of the Cree language might think these words are completely inappropriate, I’m just throwing out a really rough/not properly researched idea lol

Yes, as I opined before I think 121st Street can be the major driver for a second core development outside the City core -- the equivalent of 101st street downtown. The company that I had in Edmonton in the '70s -- Powell Blackburn Design Ltd. -- worked in association with Wayne Scott, Architect to create and design Paul Kane Park. The administration building there was our handiwork -- a remake of an existing residential building (primarily Denis Blackburn). Paul Kane was a noted sketch artist and painter and his reference here is a valid one -- his subjects were primarily First Nations individuals, encampments, and activity scenes. It might be interesting to pick up the Cree word for road/trail -- meskanaw (also the name of a small town in Saskatchewan) and append it to the Paul Kane attribution to get "Meskanaw Paul Kane", a relevant name for 121st Street. Using the Cree word for village, then, we could call the area "Ocenas", thereby separating this core area from the surrounding community of Oliver. We could solicit for an effort to intensify native Parkland planting along the existing boulevard under the existing tree umbrella and add similar plantings in key locations along the sidewalk on either side of the street, scrapping the sad attempt at lawns and picking up the beauty of the natural central Alberta landscape. We could also commission sculptors to create works to embed in the new landscape. We could festoon blank building walls with vertical planters -- all working together we could really upgrade the general appearance of the Street. I would love to get my hands on one of the character structures along this street as a base for StreetSeenz North!

 

[David A]

It was a few months back, but Edgar was saying in an interview that they are pushing for a rebranding of everything west of either 121st or 116th to become Edmonton's "West Village"

When I first lived there, in my mind the area started west of around 111 street and north of Jasper Ave. At that time the rail yards by 109 Street had not been developed. In any event, I think it would be good to have some geographic marker in the name and West Village has possibilities to me. I think the West End is another possibility and if we really want to go uptown, how about the Upper West Side?

 

[Kaizen]

 

[MattPT]