Three new names will soon be added to maps around Vancouver.
On Tuesday, March 11, city council approved Bulrush Avenue, Collins Street, and Nemetz Drive as names of new streets being added in Vancouver.
Two names have been approved for a pair of new streets that are being built near the Oakridge development as part of a neighbouring project. Collins Street and Nemetz Drive will be added to an area between Oak and Willow streets north of West 41st Ave.
The site was formerly a transit centre. A 17-building mixed-use development is now planned for the land.
In a staff report to council, the reasoning for the two names was explained.
"Collins Street is recommended in honour of union leader and Black activist Frank Collins, who worked as a Canadian Pacific Railway porter and later as a bus driver," reads the report.
Collins was involved with public transportation, it was an appropriate name for the new street, the report notes.
Nemetz Drive is named after the Nemetz family.
"In the late 1920s, the family relocated to Vancouver, contributing to various community causes ranging from health and education to labour and human rights over numerous generations," reads the report.
Bulrush Avenue is being added to Killarney in the River District development, connecting Oolichan Way and River District Crossing north of North Arm Avenue in an area still being built out.
Seven other new sections of street have also officially been named, but they're all extensions of streets that already exist, like new pieces of West 35th, West 36th, and West 39th avenues.
The name is meant to continue the theme set previously with street names in the area like Rivergrass Drive and Oolichan Way.
Street names, among other things, are decided upon by the Civic Asset Naming Committee and then recommended to city council for official approval.
They currently have a list of names ready for when new streets are built that includes Jamie Lee Hamilton (a trans rights and sex work activist), Nora Hendriz (a local community leader in the Black Community and Jimi Hendrix's grandmother), and Sara Anne McLagan (Canada's first female newspaper editor).
