Family of Daisy Sweeney upset by city plan to rename 'patch of grass' in her honour

The family of famed music teacherDaisy Peterson Sweeney says it's upset city officials have broken their promise to rename a street after the woman who taught Montreal's jazz legends how to play piano.

Instead, the city is offering to attach her nametoGuy-PaxtonPark, which sits on the border ofLittle Burgundy and Griffintown.

Sweeney's family doesn't think the park befits her legacy, which includes havingtutored her brother, Oscar Peterson, and Oliver Jones arguably Canada's two greatest jazz pianists.

"When we looked the park up and went to visit it, it turns out that it's a very smallpatch of grass that can be described very generously as some kind of little dog run," said Oscar Peterson's daughter,Cline.

At Sweeney's funeral in 2017, then-mayor Denis Coderretold mourners the city would rename a street in her honour.

But, according toClinePeterson,the family received a letter from the city earlier this monthadvising them of the new plan, which she called "unacceptable."

She said the idea of naming a street for her aunt was an "appropriate tribute," while attachingSweeney's name to the small park was "disrespectful."

A teacher and community fixture

Along with having taught Peterson and Jones, Sweeney gave lessons in classical piano to hundreds of students at the Negro Community Centre in Little Burgundy.

She also founded a youth choir, which eventually became the internationally celebrated Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir.

"She was known within the city of Montreal and in the province of Quebec for being kind [and] open-hearted," Cline Peterson said of her aunt. "Her door was always open."

Montreal MayorValriePlantetold reporters Monday that the city would listen to the family's concerns, but she also ruled out the possibility of finding a street that would take Sweeney'sname.

"We want to honour the memory of Mrs. Peterson Sweeney. It's very important," Plante said. "If the family is not happy with the decision, we will find something else.I'm confident."

She said the city offered a park instead of a street because it didn't want to replace an existing street name.

Guy-PaxtonPark, so named because it's on the corner of Guy andPaxtonStreets, doesn't yet have a namesake, saidPlante.

Sheaddedthat the city plans to reinvest in the park as part of a plan to make over several parks in the area.