Thursday, June 13, 2013

Renaming Hwy 7 to International Deputation to Region June 12, 2013 by Donna Bush

Committee Members,

I am here today to ask why?

Why are we even considering changing the name of “Highway 7”? Highway 7 has been around since 1920 -- 93 years.  This road is approximately 535 km long. It goes from Sarnia in the west to Ottawa in the east.

People know where Highway 7 is. I really don’t care if it is actually a highway (in the true sense of the word) or not. It is a recognizable name. When a person is trying to find a home or business and hears Highway 7, they have a great start to getting there. If they have to stop and ask how to find Highway 7, most locals will be able to quickly direct them. Isn’t that what we want -- people to easily find streets they are looking for? GPS units of all kinds recognize Highway 7. 

When I moved to Markham in March 1981, I remember someone referencing Wellington Street. I had no idea where they were talking about. I came to learn that at some point in time, there was a portion of Highway 7, called Wellington Street. Exactly what portion of the road called Wellington remains elusive to me, even to this day. And, frankly I really don’t care.

Recently, I have taken the opportunity to speak to a number of friends in Markham and ask them what they think of renaming Highway 7. The most common response is WHY?

The next question I ask is what do you think about a name change to “International” Road/Way/Street? The answer is a most infactic “NO!” Canada or Canadian something -- but NO, never International anything.

Residents are asking, “Isn’t there much more critical business for York Region to be concerned with, rather than wasting time and money on an unwanted and unnecessary road name change.

As a long-time Markham resident, I say, please focus on reducing our region’s debt and running necessary region business.

Yesterday, all Markham councillors in attendance at DSC voted to reject renaming Highway 7. Thank you to all of those councillors!

Please stop the make work projects and get back to basics.

Thank you,
Donna Bush 

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