Tribute to Neil Peart ‘overdue’ mayor says
Sendzik wants to name the pavilion in Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie after Peart
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik says honouring Rush drummer Neil Peart in the community is long overdue.
Sendzik has a motion coming to city council Jan. 27 to name the pavilion in Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie after Peart, who died earlier this month of brain cancer at age 67.
There’s also a residents’ online petition to honour Peart with a statue or plaque in the park that has drawn more than 20,000 signatures.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to be having this discussion now, and it’s unfortunate because it was the untimely passing of Neil, an iconic Canadian and an iconic musician known around the world, Order of Canada recipient, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who spent his formative years here in our community,” said Sendzik on Friday during his online video chat #AskSendzik at The Standard.
“We want to be able to acknowledge and commemorate his life, and also connect our community and the community of Rush and music back into St. Catharines in some way.”
Sendzik said the motion coming to council will start the public process of naming the pavilion.
The $1.8-million structure in the park was constructed in 2017, after the old one was closed and demolished for safety reasons. It doesn’t have an official name.
Sendzik said naming the pavilion after the drummer would be a fitting tribute because one of his iconic songs is “Lakeside Park,” written about his experiences there growing up.
“He worked on the midway there, the carnival there, and he spent his summers in the water there. Having something like that, from the city’s perspective, is a good strong move in terms of the recognition,” he said.
While council will be looking at the pavilion-naming idea, Sendzik said, the call for a statute is community driven and the city is open to having discussions about it with the community.
Sendzik said whatever is done to honour Peart must be respectful of his family.
“Neil is an iconic individual. He is known for his ability to play the drums. He’s worldclass in that, and Rush is a world-class band and so we have to be respectful of all of that when we consider what we’re going to do,” he said.
“I do appreciate the community’s push to do something, and we want to do something that’s respectful of the family but also is something that will remind the community and the community beyond St. Catharines that one of ours went on to achieve something that very few even in the country have achieved, and it’s something that we should celebrate,” Sendzik said.
The city is reaching out to Peart’s relatives and the members of Rush — guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist and singer Geddy Lee — for input.
“It’s long overdue. It is unfortunate that it took this long to look at how do we acknowledge someone from our community that has gone on to do amazing things.”
During Friday’s chat, Sendzik also spoke about the community’s concerns over the former GM property on Ontario Street, a rash of graffiti throughout the city, and a new Community Improvement Plan being created for development incentives that includes an affordable housing component.
Sendzik answered readers’ questions about the downtown, Lincoln Park pool and curbs at the south end of Bunting Road.
The mayor’s entire video chat can be seen on The Standard’s website at stcatharinesstandard.ca.