The orange Good Bike outside OCAD on Dundas St. W. has been turned into a Jack Layton memorial. Star readers have submitted dozens of ideas on how best to permanently honour Layton in Toronto.
Niagara Falls will join the CN Tower in going orange in honour of Jack Layton.
Tony Baldinelli of the Niagara Parks Commission says they received phone calls and emails requesting the falls be turned orange for Layton, who died Monday of cancer.
There were also requests on Facebook.
Baldinelli says the request was approved by the Niagara Falls Illumination Board.
The falls will be illuminated in orange at various times on Saturday night.
Officials say the CN Tower in Toronto will also be to be lit in orange from sundown Saturday until sunrise Sunday in honour of the late NDP leader.
With Layton’s casket due to arrive at Toronto City Hall on Thursday evening to lie in repose for a day and a half, Star readers have no shortage of creative ideas on how the opposition leader could be permanently remembered in his adopted city.
How do you think Jack Layton should be memorialized in Toronto? Send your ideas to webmaster@thestar.ca
Bike lanes named in honour of Layton were a popular choice with readers. Many suggested naming the Jarvis bike lane after the former NDP leader, while others wanted a completely new path carved out in his honour:
“I think it would be terrific if a chain of bike lane trails through the city were named the “Jack Layton Trail”. I know they are expanding bicycle lanes in and around the University of Toronto, for example. That bicycle lane must meet up with the area around Chinatown (Spadina and Dundas) and around the City Hall area. If the City can identify a continuous line of bicycle paths that take one in and around social housing, or co-ops or anything that represents what Jack Layton championed (social housing, the arts, etc.), that would be something to be emphasized.”
“Create a bicycle path in downtown Toronto and named it Jack Layton Path (JLP).
We can have groups that he named in his letter create murals at various sites so as to continue his legacy of brotherhood, civility, peace and a unified country.”
Public works of art commissioned in his memory were also a common theme, perhaps with his sculptor wife Olivia Chow lending a hand:
“Saw your request for suggestions online this morning and would like to submit the idea of casting in stone or concrete his final words:
‘My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.’ ”
“A Large Fountain, in the shape of a glass of water that will always be full of rainwater (filtered), and it will go through an eco-friendly filter process and allow everyone to drink from it. Similar to the fountains in Rome, people will use it as a public place to drink fresh, cold, clean water. It will provide water that is recycled from rainwater and will symbolize that we must always think of the glass as full — of ideas, of nourishment, of reusable resources and pureness of optimism. It should be placed centrally, so that everyone can fill their water bottle and have a drink while thinking of Jack Layton. All people, of any background, can appreciate this fountain.
“(In the winter one would have to heat it somehow to keep the water from freezing.)”
“What about a sculpture of Jack in his finest moment taking over the opposition? It can be put in his favourite place. Ask Olivia where that might be.
“Also, rather than just a name it will give a sculptor a job. It would be part of Toronto's history then.”
Some readers suggested that a static monument was not enough for a politician so engaged in society.
“It does not seem a fitting tribute for someone who spent his life actively engaged in improving our communities to simply name something after him. While it would allow his name to live on, it does not seem congruent with his focus, principles and energy.
“Rather, it may be a more fitting legacy to encourage community members of all stripes to participate in a larger social action (let's call it the Layton Collective Project for now), whereby they take up a project, initiative or otherwise improve their community (whatever it means to them – e.g., neighbourhood, office, school, etc.), ideally in support of any of principles and causes that Jack supported — there are many to choose from.
“Why not set up a think-tank that brings some of the brains of the left and right together to see if they can come up with at least a few policies that combine the best of left- and right-wing thinking? I think Jack Layton would approve of trying to bring people together – even those of different political stripes.
“All of Canada might benefit from that – and the Layton think-tank could be located in Toronto.”
“I propose an annual Montreal-Toronto festival in honour of Jack Layton with each city alternating as host. The festival would focus on innovative ways in which Jack's two cities – and communities within them – have been dealing with urban issues and how they could learn from each other, e.g., homelessness, cutting carbon emissions, promoting transit and bicycle use, providing youth and community recreation facilities – all issues Jack was engaged in.”
Environment work also loomed large in reader suggestions.
“I think Jack Layton dreamed big and I think his legacy should, too. I love the idea of building something the city needs, in the spirit of what Layton stood for, and I’m reminded of the Carnegie libraries built across North America and other parts of the world.
“I’d suggest, as a fitting legacy, Jack Layton solar panels on the roof of every home and multi-unit building in Toronto: the establishment of a memorial fund following the ideals of greening our city and building (literally) a better Canada, and following Jack’s own example.”
Others thought Layton should be honoured in donations toward cancer research:
“. I suggest orange rubber bracelets, with W.W.J.D. (what would Jack do) stamped into the rubber on one end of the bracelet . . . and his trademark moustache stamped into the rubber bracelet on the other end. All donations to Canadian Cancer Society. . .”
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