Vancouver city councillor creates motion for permanent ‘Vancouver’ sign

A Vancouver city councillor has brought forward a motion to install a permanent ‘Vancouver’ sign in the city.

Currently, a temporary ‘Vancouver’ sign sits in Coal Harbour after being installed for an event last year.

Due to the attention the sign has received, Councillor Peter Meiszner says he wants to turn the temporary feature into a permanent one.

“I think it’s just a cool thing we should do and it’s relatively low cost, so let’s make it happen and let’s be proud of Vancouver and proud of our city and show it off,” he said.

Meiszner says his motion is set to go before council in two weeks.

If approved, staff will begin public consultations on the permanent sign’s location and design.

“Even though people love the sign, and I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback, it doesn’t really represent Vancouver, it doesn’t say Vancouver, and it doesn’t have any recognition of the host nations,” he said.

“There’s lots of different locations, it could be near Jack Poole plaza, it could in the Olympic Village, Queen Elizabeth park, Gastown.”

While CityNews was at Coal Harbour on Tuesday morning, the popularity of the temporary sign was evident as a constant stream of people stopped to take a pictures with it.

Meiszner says similar permanent signs in other cities cost between $250,000 to $300,000.

While it’s not clear how long it would take to install a permanent sign, he’s hoping it happens within a year.

“I’m excited to see it come to fruition, especially ahead of some of the big events we have coming up like (the) Grey Cup, Invictus, Junos, and the FIFA world cup in 2026,” he said.