Councillors quibble over expediting Transcona park name change
A city park will be renamed to honour a long-time first responder and his family, though some councillors fear the expedited vote could attract calls to speed up other requests.
On Thursday, city council voted 12-3 to rename Kildonan Meadows Park as Lucki Family Park, which required suspending usual city rules. Such requests would normally go through the Welcoming Winnipeg process, which is under review and not presently receiving requests.
The 1120 Devonshire Drive W. site will honour Joseph Lucki, who served primarily as a police officer from 1959 to 1989, while also fighting fires and providing emergency medical care during his career. The new name also honours Isydora Lucki, his late wife, who helped beautify Transcona and won gardening awards in the process.
Joseph Lucki, 90, told media his early years of work combined battling blazes with policing.
'We were jack-of-all trades. We used to do everything. We used to transfer people, injured people … We had to drive a fire truck, pump water, hook up to the hydrant, and then do policing after that,' said Lucki.
During his years as a police officer, he said he recalls good relations with the community, even after giving out tickets.
'In the old days, we had good communication (with) citizens, especially in Transcona,' he said.
Lucki said the park will also honour his late daughter Patricia, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1989.
Several councillors shared their appreciation for the family's contributions to the city.
However, some also expressed concern the immediate vote could set a precedent, since the decision didn't come through a standard Welcoming Winnipeg process.
'I would very much like to see a park named for this person. I would like to see parks named for people in my ward who were nominated three years ago … You just can't start exempting certain people from policies,' said Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital).
The Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling our History policy was set up to name and rename places and historical markers, with a key goal to address names that negatively impact the Indigenous community.
However, the policy soon faced a backlog due to a large number of requests and is now itself under review. Its request intake process is paused until the review wraps up.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy said she's concerned this park renaming vote circumvented the rules of Welcoming Winnipeg, even though she didn't object to this particular honour.
'I feel really uncomfortable with … circumventing the rules in order to prioritize someone,' said Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).
Couns. Mayes, Gilroy and Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) voted against the change.
While he opposed suspending council's rules to hear the vote Thursday, Mayor Scott Gillingham voted in favour of the park renaming.
'He's a gentleman who served the City of Winnipeg, the people of Transcona diligently, as a police officer, for decades. When we're honouring public servants, people who've done good work in our community, I think we should be supportive of that,' said Gillingham.
The mayor said the Welcoming Winnipeg review will address the challenges faced by a committee of community members tasked with making naming recommendations to council. He said the group was 'inundated with a high volume of requests,' many of which didn't fit its original mandate.
According to the city's website, a review of the naming policy is due back in July.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne PursagaReporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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