May the 4's be with you? Not on Aurora's streets
October 16, 2009
Gail Swainson
URBAN AFFAIRS REPORTER
In a nod to cultural superstition, Aurora is now allowing residents to eliminate the unlucky number 4 – or any other unwanted number – from street addresses.
"Over the last few years, we've had a number of requests to change addresses with the number four in them," said Marco Ramunno, Aurora's director of planning and development services. "It has a bad luck connotation for people from East Asia. It's no different than the old number 13."
In Asian cultures, the number 4 sounds like the word "death" when spoken, so is considered unlucky. As a result, some numbered products manufactured in Asia, such as certain cellphones, PDAs and cameras, do not have the number 4 in their series names.
Aurora council voted Tuesday to allow residents to make a request to change their street numbers as long as there is a wide enough numbering gap.
On streets where numbers progress by intervals of four or more – for example, 2, 6, 10, 14, 18 – the street number "14" can be substituted with the numbers 12 or 16. For people who speak Cantonese, 14 is considered one of the unluckiest of numbers.
"If there's an interval of at least four, then an opportunity to change the address exists," Ramunno said.
If the street numbers progress by two in even and odd numbers on different sides of the street – 2, 4, 6, 8 – then the numbers cannot be changed.
"Unfortunately, there would be no room to make such changes," said Ramunno, who himself has the number 4 in his street address.
Ramunno said the number 13, considered unlucky in Western cultures, was eliminated many years ago in Aurora's residential street numbering system.
An administrative fee of $315 will apply to each request and the number change must be approved by agencies such as emergency services. Typically, people asking for number changes are selling their homes or are potential buyers, Ramunno said.
"We usually get requests before people move in," he added.
Anthony Bungaro, a broker with Re/Max All-Stars Realty Inc. in Unionville, said he heard of one Asian couple who was delighted with their purchase of a home with the number 8 in its street address, because the number is considered lucky, as are the numbers 2, 3, 5 and 7.
Bungaro said he has never heard of any buyer walking away from a sale because of its street address.
"The reality is, most people will buy if the price is right," he added. In fact, one Asian couple purchased a home with an unlucky street number after the price was dropped $30,000, he said.
In Vaughan, which allows the practice, along with Newmarket and Markham in York Region, one resident requested a rural street number be changed from 666, which is the mark of the Antichrist or Beast in modern pop culture, to 668. The request was granted.
And the main phone number for York Region? 905-830-4444.
Toronto Star