Free Westbank???

[Urban Cowboy]

I have seen this graffiti popping up lately and I'm confused as to what Westbank needs to be free from.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say narrow minded people, who have too much time on their hands, and just can't let go of the naming controversy, even though it's been years now, and nothing is going to change the outcome.

[Omnitheo]

I still remember the massive misinformation campaign put out by those who rejected amalgamation. They claimed that westbank's tax dollars would go directly into developing kelowna at Westbank's expense. Rather than thinking about how the city would now have the resources of kelowna's taxbase to assist it. It's also silly when you consider that most in west kelowna already piggyback off of Kelowna services paid for only by kelowna residents. So they voted to become their own city, and then kept their city hall in a portable for the better part of a decade... residents are still opposed to any sort of taxpayer funded municipal facilities or services.

Then there was the whole naming controversy. Uggested names like "ponderosa" or "four seasons", before the committee finally caved and allowed Westbank and West Kelowna as options.

What I don't understand though, is the attachment to the name "Westbank". It applied to one specific part of the region, and wasn't even on the lake (the lakefront area being known as gellatly). Most residents lived in places like Glenrosa or Lakeview heights, or Shannon Lake. Westbank to residents was either the dilapidated area between the highway and 2 strip malls and giant box stores.

The name Westbank actually refers more to the First Nations these days, and as far as other community names named after native influence, West Bank doesn't really have any sort of uniqueness to it....like Kelowna, or Kamloops, or Penticton, or Okanagan, or Shuswap (you get the idea).

Here is the number one most compelling reason for the name change in my mind:
Kelowna has a world renowned name. We're a major tourist destination, and it's good for business. Also attracts a number of events and investment. I've been around the world and when I mention kelowna, I've been surprised to see people who have heard about it. Now imagine if you're in Europe, and you say "I'm from West Kelowna" vs "I'm from Westbank". Chances are, if they've heard of kelowna, they'll know what you're talking about. But Westbank....yeah, you're either from Palestine, or one of probably a thousand other generically named settlements along every river and lake that unimaginative settlers and explorers couldn't be bothered to think of any better label for.

One final note, I've worked at call centres before where I had to confirm addresses. I've spoken to people in towns with name changes (Gatineau for instance), but on many occasions, upon confirming "You're in West Kelowna?" I would get irate responses of "Westbank!". It's amusing too, because were I not from Kelowna, and say I was based in Winnipeg or heck the Philippines, and someone said something like that, I'd probably have no clue, and start taking measures to correct their address "sorry ma'am, I can't seem to find that address in the system".

People who lived here in the 70s, do you get upset about being labelled as from Kelowna when you lived in Rutland? Perhaps amalgamation is different. How about Winfield residents? Do you take offence to the name Lake Country? Have you ever corrected someone when they asked if that was your town?

For the record I grew up in Shannon Lake. I'm familiar with the name "Westbank" so i use it from time to time, but I've come to enjoy writing it as WestK and pronouncing it as "Westkay".

[lightspeed]

It almost seems that anyone that lives on the west side of the lake is not educated.

Behave yourself. Have you spoken to people who live in Kelowna lately? You can barely have a sensible conversation with most of them. The combination of drink, drugs, sense of entitlement and abject snobbery must seriously affect their IQ.

[jimmystewart]

I have seen this graffiti popping up lately and I'm confused as to what Westbank needs to be free from.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say narrow minded people, who have too much time on their hands, and just can't let go of the naming controversy, even though it's been years now, and nothing is going to change the outcome.

The part I don't understand is why they are promoting a name that isn't even the original name for the area. Even Westside pre-dates the Westbank name. If they want to be historically correct it should be MacDonald's Plain for the crown municipality. The WFN should be changing their name to have Nkwala’s Trail, Inkumupulux, Suqnaqinx, or Nsyilxcən worked in to their name. It is beyond me why they ever adopted a name that a settlor created for the area.

Merritt, BC used to be Forksdale, BC until 1906, when they renamed it. I don't see any animosity going on over there anymore. Maybe we should give it another century for people to cool down.