I was driving along the newly named Ted Rogers Way and wondered how you get a street named after you. Is it just a matter of coughing up enough cash?

Though you’ll probably find more streets named after captains of industry than anonymous urchins, road renaming isn’t a cash grab. Citizens can make a free request, arguing for the civic significance of the name. The same goes for corporations like Rogers Communications, only they pay a $3,000 fee and must clear it with surrounding businesses or residents—not a huge challenge in Rogers’ case, since there are only four properties abutting the street in question, and one is the mothership Rogers building. The city guidelines state that a street named after a person should bear only that person’s last name. Ted Rogers Way was allowed a first name to get around another rule: no renamed street can share a name with an existing GTA street. (In this case, Rogers Road is just north of St. Clair.) The police objected to the renaming on the grounds that it could cause Rogers/Rogers confusion. But a “no” vote from the fuzz—who, along with other emergency services and heritage groups, weigh in on every request—wasn’t enough to thwart the will of Rogers, not that that would come as a shock to anyone who has ever tried to argue their cellphone bill.

• Question from Evie Hewitt, Wychwood

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