[420 Girl]

If Coun. Victor Pietrangelo has his way, this year will be the last for the 420 pro-marijuana rally.

Pietrangelo introduced a motion at last week's council meeting to rename Highway 420 to a name more significant to the city.

"I think we can create a better first impression for visitors in our city," Pietrangelo told This Week.

With the name change would come a new image. From a cannon placed along the streetscape to a new gateway and signage, the possibilities for revamping the main throughway to the tourist district are endless, said Pietrangelo.

Pietrangelo added that with the new arena, the city is losing the names Niagara Falls Memorial Arena and Stamford Memorial Arena, and perhaps the new name could reflect a memorial of some sort.

"I'm partial to renaming it to something significant to veterans," he said.

The new name would also rid the 420's association to marijuana.

For more than five years, tourists visiting Clifton Hill every April 20 have caught a pungent scent as pro-marijuana activists march through the tourism district lighting up joints to protest the criminalization of marijuana and to demand that cannabis be legalized.

Each year, hundreds of people gather where Highway 420 meets Victoria Avenue and then march to Clifton Hill waving flags and inhaling from joints, pipes and bongs.

Police typically send cruisers past them frequently, but otherwise leave the protesters alone.

"This year could be the last year for the rally," said Pietrangelo.

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