Uxbridge setting a standard for veteran street signs

DAN CEARNS The Standard

UXBRIDGE: The Township of Uxbridge is looking to set a consistent standard, in terms of honouring local veterans, on street signs.

At a meeting, on Monday, November 4th, Councillors saw a report from Regional Councillor, Bruce Garrod, on updating the list of local veterans, to use for street names, and looking at making the standard for future signs more consistent.

21 veterans' names were included on the list, such as Al Bainbridge, Jeff Peck, Stanley Fawns, Rob Markell and Kenneth MacDonald. The report also called for “Public Works [to] establish a street sign standard which shall incorporate the Poppy symbol for Veteran Street signs, to be installed on all newly established streets and any replacement street signs as required.” Another recommendation in the report, was, to have Public Works “investigate [the] budget impact [for applying] the new standard to replace existing street signs [which] currently include Poppies in the design.”

“Few, if any, municipalities show respect for their veterans the way Uxbridge does,” Councillor Garrod said. “The honouring of our veterans, through a permanent legacy of a sign name, I think is an incredibly nice touch.”

While noting naming streets after veterans is not a new process for the Township, Councillor Garrod stated, “the legion would be the first to say, there were names on the previous list, [of] which, we weren’t exactly sure they were indeed Uxbridge residents.”

When it comes to prioritization, Councillor Garrod said, there’s no real way to put a numbered list together, as “they all served and they’re all equally deserving of the recognition.” So he decided to just list them alphabetically on the report.

Mayor Dave Barton suggested the Township prioritize veterans names in hamlets or areas the veterans either grew up or lived, in when possible.