Former trustees slam name of new Vancouver school
Posted December 14, 2016 11:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) Vancouver’s newest school now has a name but not everybody is happy with it.
A school board naming committee has decided on Crosstown Elementary as the name of the new school opening in 2017 on Expo Bld near Rogers Arena.
The name is meant to reflect the area it borders; Gastown, Chinatown, Yaletown, Downtown and Northeast False Creek.
However, former VSB trustee Patti Bacchus calls Crosstown “uninspired and disappointing.”
“Some remarkable individuals who contributed a great deal to the Chinese-Canadian community in Vancouver would have been a much more fitting name for a brand new elementary school than such a bland name like Crosstown.”
She was hoping the school would be named after Won Alexander Cumyow who is believed to be the first person of Chinese descent born in Canada and voted before and after disenfranchisement.
Bacchus says she spoke to his granddaughter on Tuesday and she was excited about the possibility.
She says the name “Crosstown” sounds like the name of a mini-mall.
Former VSB chair Mike Lombardi calls the Crosstown name “disappointing,” putting the blame on the government-appointed school board trustee, Dianne Turner.
The naming committee is considering a dual Aboriginal name for the school which will serve over 500 students.
