Toronto Yonge-Dundas Square/Sankofa Square (Brown + Storey Architects)

[UtakataNoAnnex]

It’s been 21 years since Rogers put their name on the stadium that everyone who isn’t bound by broadcasting obligations still calls The SkyDome. Unlike politicians, Rogers isn’t accountable to voters.

I am not sure what voters have to do with this. Was this on a ballot?

...that said, that doesn't detract from my point that this will unlikely be weighing heavy on a lot of folks' minds 10-15 years from now regardless what anyone will be calling it.

 

[nightstreak]

I am not sure what voters have to do with this. Was this on a ballot?

It was supposed to be. The committee was tasked with coming up with a shortlist that would have been voted by Torontonians. The process was so poorly mismanaged by Chris Moise and so delayed that Olivia Chow had enough and asked them to make a decision — effectively disenfranchising Torontonians’ role in naming one of their most important civic spaces.

...that said, that doesn't detract from my point that this will unlikely be weighing heavy on a lot of folks' minds 10-15 years from now regardless what anyone will be calling it.

It won’t be on people’s minds. That’s the point. People who’ve always known it as “Yonge-Dundas Square” or for most just “Dundas Square” aren’t likely to be changing their habits. Sankofa won’t stick making it vulnerable to a proper branding exercise. I think it’ll Inevitably get renamed after someone or something in a square rebuild which is now being talked about to be included in the long delayed yongeTOmorrow Yonge Street revitalization.

 

[torontologist]

It was a missed opportunity to honour an important Black figure from Toronto and/or Ontario... and there are many. Something that respects local identity and highlights important histories that need to be remembered.

 

[Mihairokov]

It was a missed opportunity to honour an important Black figure from Toronto and/or Ontario... and there are many. Something that respects local identity and highlights important histories that need to be remembered.

(Lincoln) Alexanderplatz!

 

[EnviroTO]

@

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

It was supposed to be. The committee was tasked with coming up with a shortlist that would have been voted by Torontonians. The process was so poorly mismanaged by Chris Moise and so delayed that Olivia Chow had enough and asked them to make a decision — effectively disenfranchising Torontonians’ role in naming one of their most important civic spaces.

I will least give you that. Given if this is true, there should of always been that level of public consultation about this regardless of how I feel about the current name and how noble their intentions where. It's a high profile place where people gather...they should of been least included in the decision making, IMO.

...and thank you clarifying your position on that. /bows

 

[zang]

Yes, they call it the skydome. Source: I am under 50 and I work with 20-30 year olds.

So the people who York with who never knew it as SkyDome call it that? I highly doubt that.

Nearly ⅓ of the city’s population has been from the last 20 years, a good number of those were born in other countries. Do they call it SkyDome too?

 

[C-mac]

So the people who York with who never knew it as SkyDome call it that? I highly doubt that.

Nearly ⅓ of the city’s population has been from the last 20 years, a good number of those were born in other countries. Do they call it SkyDome too?

No need to split hairs here. The point is, most people that grew up with it still call it the Skydome. I still call it the Skydome as well. Having that said, they were well within their right to rename it whatever they wanted as it's a private entity. Dundas Square on the other hand is not, and thus public had a right to be involved in any capacity of renaming it.

 

[PL1]

Yes, they call it the skydome. Source: I am under 50 and I work with 20-30 year olds.

I am over 50 and I call it Rogers Centre because I respect our corporate overlords /s

I think I usually refer to it as the dome, and sometimes Skydome, and occasionally Rogers Centre. I'd be happy if they returned Skydome to the name... Even Rogers Skydome would be an improvement

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

At the end of the day, it is what it is. People will name it whatever while it will be officially known by it's current name until that's addressed again. And there is really nothing wrong with...as I am also sure that Ted Rogers is not rolling in his grave every time someone mentions Skydome.

 

[ShonTron]

Why are the same few people still complaining about the same thing? I'm not saying you have to like it (I'm not crazy about it). But you don't have to keep spamming this thread with the same tired messages.

 

[picard102]

So the people who York with who never knew it as SkyDome call it that? I highly doubt that.

They absolutely do. You do know that people can know about things from before they were born right?
What do you think they heard their parents call it all their lives?

I've never heard a human call it, whatever the name is now, in real life.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...it's also fair to say that likely most of us still refer it to as the Kennedy Center and not it's new *official* name which I'll spare everyone by not mentioning that here. /bleah

 

[nightstreak]

They absolutely do. You do know that people can know about things from before they were born right?
What do you think they heard their parents call it all their lives?

I've never heard a human call it, whatever the name is now, in real life.

My teenage nieces (who as far as I know are under 50) who were born a decade after the last time the SkyDome graced the dome's façade call it that.

I thought for sure it was their parents who got them on the name but it turns out they're Jays fans and go to games with their friends and play in little league and that's what everyone in their group calls it.

So yeah, I don't think Sankofa is going to stick if it doesn't outlast at least a generation of people who have always called it Dundas Square. And on that point, I can add NEW INFORMATION to this thread: I was sufficiently motivated by this discussion to confirm with the Mayor's Office that the little street that runs along the south edge of the square will continue to be called Dundas Square. There are no plans to change it.

So yeah, good luck getting people to stop calling it Dundas Square when the name is right on the map and when the streets bounding it are still Yonge, Dundas St E and Dundas Square.

 

[reinventingthewheel]

Point is moot, nothing more to prove.

Personally I don’t even call it square, I only speak in intersections — the true Toronto way.