Pubdate: Fri, 22 May 2009
Source: Niagara This Week (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Contact:  http://www.niagarathisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3733
Author: Alison Bell

LAST CHANCE TO SUGGEST NAMES FOR 420

Canadian Veterans Highway, Falls Way, Great Gorge Gateway and Rainbow
Highway are just a few of the suggestions the city has received from
residents wishing to rename Highway 420.

More than 40 suggestions have been submitted since Coun. Victor
Pietrangelo brought forward a motion to rename the highway, which runs
between the Queen Elizabeth Way and Roberts Street.

Submissions have been received through the city's website and
residents have until May 31 to have their say.

Pietrangelo told This Week suggestions received so far encompass an
array of categories.

"We've had everything ranging from things to do with famous people who
have visited here to something tourism-related to falls-related to
veteran-related," he said, noting suggestions for veterans were the
most prominent.

Since introducing the motion last March, Pietrangelo said he hasn't
heard any negative comments about hoping to change the highway's name.

"Everyone who has said something to me has said it's a good idea to
rename it," he said.

Pietrangelo, who has always favoured a name to honour veterans, said
he likes Canadian Veterans Highway because of the name's
inclusivity.

"It encompasses all veterans from right across Canada," he
said.

A number of Provincial highways have been renamed. A stretch of
Highway 401 was recently renamed the Highway of Heroes. The nearby
Highway 405 was designated as the General Brock Parkway in 2006.

A new name for the 420 would not only give the road a makeover - it
would also rid the highway's association to marijuana, said
Pietrangelo. Each year, hundreds of people gather where Highway 420
meets Victoria Avenue and then march to Clifton Hill to protest the
criminalization of marijuana and to demand that cannabis be legalized.

Residents have until May 31 to submit suggestions on the city's
website at www.niagarafalls.ca and council will choose the name after
a staff report which should be compiled sometime in June.

The name change requires a resolution of council, approval by the
region, agreement from Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and Transport
Minister Jim Bradley. 
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