City divided on Ice District, but Katz Group title to stick

The sun rose over a new district in downtown Edmonton Tuesday morning.

Twenty-four hours after the Katz Group announced the the area around the new arena would be dubbed "Ice District," Edmontoniansremainnotablydivided on the moniker.

• Katz Group rebrands Edmonton's arena district
• Downtown arena prompting more development

"I think it's pretty good," Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples told CBC News on Tuesday morning.

In particular, Staples identified three reasons why he thinks it works:

• "Ice evokes hockey, and it's mainly about hockey in the end";
• "We're trying to be proud of our winter here in Edmonton";
• "They picked something that's about Edmonton not about the company."

Taking up the other side of the debate: Omar Mouallem, editor of The Yards and a columnist for Metro.

While Mouallem says the title is "not the worst name they could have come up with," he doesn't think it fairly represents the project, which was partially funded by the city.

"It kind of separates itself from downtown and separates itself from what this was billed as originally."

"I think just saying the arena in downtown, this is fine I don't know why we needed to really, really brand this one portion of it," he said.

• On mobile? Listen to the full debate here

Who gets to name?

Mouallem's sentiments appear to be shared by many who have taken to social media and online forums in the wake of Monday's announcement to discuss who exactly gets to name things in the city.

When it comes to public parks, roads and civic infrastructure, that responsibility lies in the hands of the Edmonton Naming Committee, a city-appointed group consisting of six citizens and one representative from the Edmonton Historical Board.

However, developers and builders get to name any private projects.

"A project like this would be out of our jurisdiction," confirmed Jamie Post, chair of the Edmonton Naming Committee on Tuesday.

But Post said it does get murky when civic and private projects overlap, often requiring the naming committee, the city and developers to work together sometimes more effectively than others.

"We do tend to run into issues with this in suburban areas where you see neighbourhoods are named one thing and marketed as something else," Post said. For example, the municipal neighbourhood "Walker" is often referred to by its commercial name of "Aurora."

Similarly, although much of the Ice District falls under private ownership, it does include public elements like MacEwan LRT station, community rink and the as-yet unnamed Edmonton civic office tower, Post said.

"You'd perhaps assume that there was some coordination between the Katz Group, Edmonton Oilers, the City of Edmonton, community partners and things like that rather than just wake up one morning and 'Surprise! Ice District.'"

• On mobile? Listen to the full interview here

History of naming

A poll posted by CBC News on Monday had garnered more than 1,500 votes by early Tuesday. Of those, 637 said they hate the new name and will refuse to use it.

It's not the first time Edmontonians have disliked a new place name, says Kathryn Ivany, city archivist and supervisor of city heritage and specialty facilities.

Ivany said there was also pushback when the city announced the naming of the Blatchford development, and that somecontinue to call Hawrelak Parkits original name of Mayfair.

In most cases, placesin Edmonton have tended to be named according to their historical use or function, she said, or are named after topographical features or after a significant event or person.

Following that logic, Ivany noted the lands now known as Ice District were once Edmonton's railway lands. However, after 30 years out of use, Ivany said that association has dropped away for most who live here.

"The thing about downtown is we always want it to be fresh and new, and maybe even crisp and shiny like ice is, so it may be very appropriate for the downtown area," she said.

"It may be good for now we'll see if it actually lasts."

• On mobile? Listen to the history of naming here