Last week, I asked for your thoughts on naming our new waterfront urban neighborhood. Gramor Development, the company that will create the bulk of the waterfront community, says it will call the area The Waterfront Vancouver USA. But Gramor doesn’t control all of the 40-plus acres of redevelopment waterfront property: The Port of Vancouver is redeveloping 10 acres of its Terminal 1 site, and it has no new name in mind for its property.
I suggested a naming contest, an idea that won support from Samuel Shogren, CEO of Shogren Consulting Group in Beaverton, Ore. Shogren suggested a community or arts event at the site that would draw people to brainstorm names and their meanings. “A list developed by 1,000 or 2,000 (or more) attendees will generate a great deal more interest and creativity than an overused and uninspiring phrase and build community for a new place,” he wrote.
Some readers, not waiting for a brainstorming session, sent in ideas. The suggestions are fun to read and consider. But in the absence of any official interest in a community discussion, these ideas are just between us.
Not surprisingly, references to the river weigh heavily in the suggestions. So do historical references, with some readers bemoaning that Vancouver hasn’t fully presented or marketed its rich history to our growing number of visitors.
Ken Doane of Ridgefield offers “Columbia Landing,” while reader Dorothy West suggests “Columbia’s Edge.” Erik Robinson, a former Columbian reporter, follows in a similar vein with “Columbia Riverfront.”
“Vancouver is the biggest city truly centered on one of the great rivers of the world, since downtown Portland is situated several miles away on the Willamette,” Robinson writes. “We ought to embrace the fact that Vancouver has the good fortune to be tied directly to the Columbia — a tremendous historical, cultural, and natural asset.”
But if we embrace our history, what era? Reader Virginia Holter says her choice was easy: Hudson’s Bay Park, for the fur-trading company that made the city an early commercial hub.
David Haas, who maintains The Columbian’s building systems, suggests naming the area after David Thompson, a British-Canadian explorer, surveyor, and map-maker who in 1811 was the first European to navigate the length of the Columbia River. Thompson’s precise maps of the river were used into the mid-20th century.
Going even earlier, two readers request a name to honor the region’s Chinook Indian heritage.
Reader Leslie Peterson said it shouldn’t be hard to find better names than Terminal 1 or Vancouver Waterfront USA.
“In less than 1 minute I even came up with a few,” she said. “Bridgeview Park. Hudson Bay Park, Colonial Park, Columbia Park and White Eagle Park (after John McLoughlin and our nation’s symbol).”
She wants to hear more. “Come on people, we can do better. Even I did a little bit better. … Our grandbabies could do better. … Do better!”
