Waterfront’s contest to name its newest park was won by a recent immigrant to Toronto who has taken the city’s history to heart.
Tedd Konya, a
research technician at the University of Toronto working on infant health, moved to
Toronto from Pittsburgh to marry his Canadian husband. He came up with the winning name,
Corktown Common, for the 7.3 hectare park formerly known as Don River Park.
"I moved to Toronto five years ago and have lived in Corktown a little over two years," he says. "Most of what I learned about Corktown's history came from the CRBA's
corktown.ca website and other posts on the web from Toronto blogs. I've always had an interest in history, especially where I live, so I like to read anything that I come across.
"One of the sites had maps that showed the neighborhood over the last 100+ years and it was clear how much the neighbourhood was broken up with rail lines, then highway ramps. Since this piece of land is finally coming back to the community I thought it was appropriate that the park should be named for the neighbourhood."
Konya won a competition that consisted of 450 entrants, with 1,500 people voting online for their favourite among them. He’ll be presented with a rendering of the park and will be a guest at the opening of the park later this summer.
The name must be accepted by city council at their June 18 meeting to become official.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tedd Konya
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