An east Mountain park will soon have a tribute to a young Hamilton boy tragically struck and killed in a high-profile motor vehicle collision in December 2020.
Earlier this week, city councillors voted unanimously in favour of paying tribute to Jude Strickland via a commemorative plaque and new playground equipment at Eleanor Park on Presidio Drive.
“This was one, quite honestly, that was very humbling,” Ward 6 Mountain Coun. Tom Jackson said during the planning committee meeting on Monday.
“In talking to the family, I thought (it) would be a worthwhile immortalization.”
Strickland died in hospital, days after he was struck by a speeding pickup on Upper Gage Avenue and Royalvista Drive between Stone Church and Rymal roads just before 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2020.
A 29-year-old driver pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, and is scheduled for sentencing on April 5.
Strickland’s death sparked a petition, with close to 200 signees, to lower the speed limit on a section of Upper Gage from 50 to 40 km/h. The motion was approved by council in late February of 2021.
“It’s our hope as Jude’s parents that the City of Hamilton will make roads such as Upper Gage a safer place for kids to get home safely from school,” parents Jamie and Vanessa Strickland said during a presentation at a public works committee last year.
“There is more to an efficient road system than simply getting motorists home sooner.”
The date for a ribbon-cutting of the Jude Strickland Play Structure will be set for the summer once designs are approved via input from Strickland’s family, Templemead School officials and nearby residents in late March, according to Jackson.
The estimated cost is around $220,000 and will be picked up jointly with $100,000 from the city and just over $120,000 from a Mountain capital re-investment reserve fund.
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