Tragically Hip Way

[Velvet]

It’s not every day that your hometown names a street after you.

But Kingston City Council did just that for the Tragically Hip Tuesday night, when it renamed part of a downtown street Tragically Hip Way.

The re-named portion includes a block and a half of Barrack Street that runs in front of a large entertainment venue, the K-Rock Centre, and down towards the Wolfe Island Ferry docks. Officially, the re-named portion of the road runs from King Street East just past Ontario Street.

City Council also voted to create a Walk of Fame.

The Hip are 12-time Juno award winners. The band formed in 1983, and it has since released 14 albums.

Artsy consultations

Even the public consultations were touched by the spirit of art. When speakers signed up to weigh in on the matter at a meeting last January, they were asked to draw a card. To decide the order of speakers, the mayor randomly drew cards from his own matching deck. If a speaker’s card matched, it was their turn to speak.

Some speakers were not in favour of the plan, saying they were concerned about the military history of the area. Most were in favour and wanted to use the re-naming as a springboard to develop an entertainment district.

The vote was close, with seven councilors voting in favour, and six against.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I'd rather it was called Spencer Evans Way, except it would have to be a twisty/turvy kinda street

Edited February 22, 2012 by Guest

[skelter]

haha great shot of Spence.

There's lot of people concerned that we're dishonouring history or the military or both by taking away a block of a street, but a former CFB Kingston base commander came forward and said "The Hip have done a lot to support the military ... we don't see this as a negative"

A lot of debate surrounding it, but the Hip have done nothing but great things for this city. Every concert they do here is a charity event (which also makes it easy for them to not have to guestlist half the city) and they've raised a lot of money for a lot of causes. I think it's pretty great.