ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: May 13, 2002
Author/Local: Larry Cantrell/7407

RTS File No. 2727

CC File No. 5527

Council: May 28, 2002

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Street Naming Committee
SUBJECT:	New Public Street Name - Rolston Crescent

RECOMMENDATION

A. That an existing lane, looping southwestward from Drake Street on the southeast side of Granville Street, crossing under the Granville Bridge and then back to Drake Street northwest of Granville, be designated as a public street.

B. THAT the public street be named Rolston Crescent.

C. THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to bring forward the appropriate amendments to the Street Name By-Law.

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A, B and C.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council uses the Street Name By-Law, No. 4954, to name and regulate public roads in the City of Vancouver. The Street Naming Committee, a staff team, is chaired by the City Clerk, and comprised of the Archivist, City Surveyor, representatives of the Planning, Permits & Licensing, and Fire & Rescue Services Departments. The Committee is responsible for the management of a consistent, integrated and duplication-free street name system.

PURPOSE

This report seeks Council approval for designating an existing lane as a public street and naming it as Rolston Crescent. (See attached plan.)

DISCUSSION

The recent opening of a rental building at 600 Drake Street has led the Street naming Committee to review the status of the unnamed lane that loops in a rough semi-circle from Drake Street, across Granville Street under the Granville Bridge and then back to Drake Street. The Committee noted that over much of its course, this lane is wider than the 33-foot width which normally defines a lane. Although the lane was probably intended to provide secondary access, its greater-than-lane width and the near-by commercial activity are sufficient for the Street Naming Committee to recommend that it be designated as a public street.

Tilly Jean Cameron Rolston (1887-1953) was a native of Vancouver. She trained as a teacher at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Normal School. In 1938 she entered public life on behalf of the British Columbia Council of Women. Among many public rôles she subsequently took up were those of director of the Pacific National Exhibition, founding Chair of Theatre Under the Stars and member of the board of the Vancouver Symphony Society. In 1941, Tilly Rolston was elected to the British Columbia Legislature as member for Point Grey. Re-elected twice, she became British Columbia's Minister of Education in 1952 and the first woman in Canadian history to hold a cabinet post with portfolio.

The Street Naming Committee recommends that Council approve the name, Rolston Crescent, for the new public street.

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