Businesses mad over Robertson Road name change

Dozens of business owners on Robertson Road in Bells Corners are fuming at plans to re-name their historic street.

The city plans to name the street Lloyd Francis Boulevard after a former Liberal MP, but businesses in the area feel so strongly about the old name that they've put protest signs in their windows that say, "Hello, my name is Robertson."

Hundreds of residents have signed a petition demanding the name remain the same.

The street is named after John Robertson, an early land surveyor in Nepean, but the businesses are upset mostly because the change will cost them thousands of dollars in signs and advertising.

The name change is partially over traffic confusion because one portion of the street is called Robertson Drive and the other is Richmond Road.

Coun. Rick Chiarelli said it's a small part of taking a decaying area and turning it into a destination point.

"We've brought millions of dollars of improvements to Bells Corners and more is on the way, but what's important is that the overall effort and the restructuring and the rebranding of Bells Corners happens so that there's a bright business future ahead for everybody."

Chiarelli said the area will be a satellite site during next year's tulip festival, and that new housing and business projects yet to be announced will re-energize Bells Corners.

One person deeply unhappy about the change is Barbara Fisher, the great-great-granddaughter of John Robertson, who says the change is an insult to her family.

"It's, to put it mildly, a slap in the face," she said.