A council meeting has been scheduled at the Seniors Centre on July 11. It is very likely that a change in the Seniors Centre name will be on the agenda. If you don’t like what is proposed be sure to make your views known; attend, phone or write to your council representatives – [email protected].
We are in total agreement with Parks and Recreation management that the usage of the Seniors Centre should see an increase.
But, being active participants ourselves, and Herbert Vesely having been a Advisory Board member of the Squamish Seniors Centre Society for 13 years, we don’t see that a name change will significantly contribute to this objective. It may even turn some seniors away from the centre that has been aptly named by a previous council the “Squamish Seniors Centre.”
We expect there would be no objection by seniors to changing the name to “Seniors Activity Centre” because the “Squamish” moniker is redundant in this context.
The current name was chosen by a previous council from a short list of responses to a survey conducted district wide before the centre opened in 2009.
As a result of the demonstrated objections by seniors and the Advisory Board at the April 11 council meeting, council directed the Seniors Centre Revitalization Committee to come to a consensus on a name change.
After the public presentation to council on April 11, and only quite recently, a further name was suggested to the Revitalization Committee for consideration: “the FIFTY5 Seniors Activity Centre” and a number of variations thereof. “The FIFTY5” would be stylized by including elements of the Squamish logo. This name was never put before the seniors of Squamish for their comment.
A quick review of B.C. seniors centres shows that five out of 23 use “Seniors Activity Centre” or slight variations thereof. Plain “Seniors Centre” is used in another five. A version of the “55er” is used in only one instance (Burnaby).
Could so many B.C. seniors centres be wrong?
The Seniors Centre Revitalization Committee could not come to a consensus on this very late proposal either. In a vote on “Seniors Activity Centre” – two members, both from our Advisory Board, voted for it, while three members comprised of our kitchen chef and two members who had been selected by staff from the public at large voted against.
The undersigned respectfully suggest that council ought to either retain the existing name or change it to “Seniors Activity Centre.” And keep in mind that any change involves costs which recreation management has so far not disclosed.
