Park named for Marco Muzzo's grandfather gets name change after drunk-driving case
CBC News | Posted: March 30, 2016 11:49 PM | Last Updated: March 30, 2016
Coun. Sue McFadden moved motion after complaints from constituents about name
Mississauga city council voted unanimously Wednesday to rename a park honouring Marco Muzzo, the grandfather of the man sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for killing four people while driving drunk.
Marco Muzzo Memorial Woods And Park, located near Eglinton Avenue East and Ninth Line, was named to honour the late billionaire developer Marco Muzzo, who helped build many properties in Mississauga. He also donated the land for the park to the city.
It will now be named Marco Muzzo Senior Memorial Woods and Park.
Ward 10 Coun. Sue McFadden moved the motion to change the name of the park, which is located in her ward.
She told CBC News she began thinking about the move not long after the crash in Vaughan that took the lives of three young children and their grandfather in September of last year.
"When the accident first happened I got numerous calls from people surrounding the Marco Muzzo Memorial Woods," McFadden said.
Constituents told McFadden their children were asking why the park was named after someone who had driven drunk and killed four people, she said.
"After discussing it with my leadership team, with my staff, with members of the community ... I decided it really wasn't fair to take the name away from a man who gave so much to our city ... because of something that his grandson did."
McFadden said she promised her constituents that she would push for the change once the court had decided the younger Marco Muzzo's fate.
"So I decided that the best way to handle this was to keep the name but add the 'Senior' part to the name. That way we keep the excellent reputation of Marco Muzzo and all that he did and differentiate between him and Marco Muzzo the grandson," McFadden said.
The motion was passed unanimously and there was no debate before the vote. McFadden said the name change will be effective immediately and parents will now be able to tell their children who the park really honours.
"These kids are quite savvy. I mean, they're on social media all the time. They know that this has been in the headlines," McFadden said.
"Now at least we can say, 'No, we don't condone drinking and driving,' and I don't want any affiliation with that in my ward."