April 24, 2008
Lazy Avec Le "Metro"
In the fall of 1997, the Metro Toronto Zoo had something of a clearance sale, divesting itself of merchandise branded "Metro Toronto Zoo." On January 1st, the Megacity would be coming, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto would be no more, and the Zoo—to be renamed simply the "Toronto Zoo"—would be prepared for the change.
The Metropolitan Toronto Police, however, were not quite as on the ball. Two years later, in 2000, the organization finally got around to rechristening itself the "Toronto Police Service," an amendment reflected everywhere but on the front of its College Street headquarters.
The August 25, 2006, edition of The Fixer (available via this link, if you have a Toronto Public Library card handy) drew our attention to this discrepancy: "The sign, which is attached to the building's marble facade, still says 'Metropolitan Toronto Police Headquarters.' It shows the familiar, joined-rings insignia of the Metro government, as well as the old Metro Police insignia." The Fixer called Michael Ellis, listed on the Police website as the "Unit Commander" in charge of Facilities Management. He "said a new sign has finally been designed and approved, after a delay of several years. A new sign is scheduled to go up over the front door to 40 College in 2007, he says."
Well, they updated the crest. At this point, though, the rest of it might as well be left as is, an anachronistic quirk to serve as a memorial to a city that worked.
Photos taken by Jonathan Goldsbie just the other day.
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I dunno. As a heritage buff, I am not always keen to see building signage get revamped on a continuous basis. Sometimes the historic signage anchors the building in its era.
As for the "a city that worked" comment, there may still be a debate over amalgamation, but that's a bit of rose-coloured, naive nostalgia.
"Sometimes the historic signage anchors the building in its era."
That's actually kinda the point I was trying to get at. Now that it's been ten years, it's passed from being something to be Fixed to being something of an historical artifact... an "anachronistic quirk," as I put it.
"As for the 'a city that worked' comment, there may still be a debate over amalgamation, but that's a bit of rose-coloured, naive nostalgia."
Undoubtedly. But I refuse to believe that an extra layer of government overseeing regional matters, as well as local politicans who represented a fraction of the number of people, wouldn't have been at least a little bit more functional.
I vote that the sign be removed and destroyed post-haste!