From the NY Times:A fast check of a Hagstrom’s New York City atlas indicated that two boroughs — Queens and Staten Island — have no streets named for Dr. King. The one everyone seems to know about, the one in Harlem, is also called 125th Street, and the one in the Bronx is also known as University Avenue.
The city also has a Martin Luther King Jr. housing project, less than a dozen blocks south of the Harlem street; a Martin Luther King Jr. High School, near Lincoln Center; and a Martin Luther King Triangle, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. It is a park one-sixteenth of an acre in size.
21 comments:
Um...so what????
There is a major stretch of road named for Dr. King — the Martin Luther King Expressway, linking the S.I. Expressway to Bayonne, N.J. It might not be a street, but it is a heavily traveled thoroughfare nonetheless.
Should every town in America have an MLK, JFK, or RFK Street? Their legacy is so visible, and their names are so well-known, that it is a guarantee they will never be forgotten.
Having one street named after MLK is good, but to have one in every borough may be seen as pandering by our leaders.
Black comedians are often quite astute observers of the human condition, and are the only ones allowed to state the obvious without fear of repurcussions from the P.C. thought police.
Chris Rock said it best: "If a friend calls you on the telephone and says they're lost on Martin Luther King Boulevard and they want to know what they should do, the best response is 'Run.'"
When will something, anything - a street, a high school, an aeroport, a bridge - be named after Ronald Reagan? In this burg? When? (You know when.)
I'm still recovering from Christmas/New Year's. Who needs a holiday 2 weeks later? The timing is all wrong; my internal clock is awry.
I don't know about you but I am "African-American" plumb tuckered out. Kwanzaa, Watch Night, MLK holiday, and then a whole month of Black History.
MEGO
Every town in America needs a MLK Boulevard. How else are visitors supposed to know when they are approaching a dangerous slummy area that is best avoided?
When will something, anything - a street, a high school, an aeroport, a bridge - be named after Ronald Reagan? In this burg? When? (You know when.)
Not only Reagan, I can't even think of anything significant off the top of my head in NYC that's named after Alexander Hamilton.
There was an article about this in the NY Sun (R.I.P.), I believe they said there's not even 1 public school named after him. But there's actually a public schools in Washington Heights named after Juan Pablo Duarte, who has just about zero relevance to U.S. history.
But I'm sure the fact that they named the school after someone significant in the history of the Dominican Republic has boasted the self esteem of the students immensely, and test scores are well above those of Stuyvesant and Bronx Science.
Yeah, right!
Wake up, wake up. Charles Barron are you asleep? Gregory Meeks, Leroy Comrie?
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue
Martin Luther King Jr. Street
Martin Luther King Jr. Road
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Martin Luther King Jr. Place
Martin Luther King Jr. Lane
Martin Luther King Jr. Walk
Martin Luther King Jr. Terrace
Martin Luther King Jr. Mews
Martin Luther King Jr. Allee
Wade Nichols said...
When will something, anything - a street, a high school, an aeroport, a bridge - be named after Ronald Reagan? In this burg? When? (You know when.)
Not only Reagan, I can't even think of anything significant off the top of my head in NYC that's named after Alexander Hamilton.
---------------------------------------
The bridge that crosses the Harlem River connecting the Cross Bronx Expressway with the George Washington Bridge is officially known as the Alexander Hamilton Bridge (source: Hagstrom Maps). There was a high school in Brooklyn named after Alexander Hamilton (I think that Bernard King went there, but i'm not sure). It was closed sometime in the last 20 years.
Also Hamilton Terrace and Hamilton Place both uptown and in Brooklyn. His house is a historic site being restored with millions of taxpayer dollars.
It seems that Wade, fresh from the West Coast, should spend more time in NYC. (S)he has a standing offer at become familiar with the lay of the land, but, alas, to date declined.
Let me know.
I guess till then Canadian tundra has its attractions. Odd eh?
Marty Golden named a pier in Bay Ridge after Ronald Reagan.
Now the real question is, what did Reagan ever do for New York City?
Enough King. Let's name some streets after Teddy Kennedy. I know he's not dead yet. But I'm just sayin'.
It seems that Wade, fresh from the West Coast, should spend more time in NYC.
No, haven't stepped outside NYC since Christmas time. Ask me a month or two, and I'll tell you how the West Coast was.
(S)he has a standing offer at become familiar with the lay of the land, but, alas, to date declined.
I'm very much a HE. But I'll gladly show you who the girl is.
Let me know.
I can find my own way around, and I also wipe my own arse.
I guess till then Canadian tundra has its attractions. Odd eh?
Haven't made it to the Canadian tundra yet. But I spent a week in Nova Scotia in September.
Frances lewis boulevard is a boring street name. go ahead change the name of that its a major queens blvd.
Bronx-Whitestone bridge to Martin Luther King bridge
Interesting how Martin Luther King Senior and Junior were named after a white man - Martin Luther, an anti-Semite.
Here's a story that I think illustrates the silliness of this naming nonsense.
My friend and her husband came to visit me a few weeks back. She grew up in Queens; he did not (he's foreign born, but has lived in the U.S. at least 20 years and went to college here). They currently live in a VERY nice suburb of a major metro East Coast city. They are college-educated with six-figure jobs.
She needed to go somewhere during her visit to pick up something, and I told her to take the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
When she came back, she said she was unaware it was now called the Jackie Robinson; she remembered as the Interboro. She said he husband asked: "Isn’t Jackie Robinson that old comedian?" He was thinking of Jackie Mason!
I asked her: "Do you know who Jackie Robinson was?" She said: "He was a black baseball player, right?" She was unsure, though.
So her husband had no clue who Robinson was and she was only vaguely familiar.
Did I mention both my friend and her husband are black?
True story.
Anonymous said...
Frances lewis boulevard is a boring street name. go ahead change the name of that its a major queens blvd.
Monday, January 19, 2009
----------------------------------
Francis Lewis may be a boring name, but he signed the Declaration of Independence.
Any questions?
That's another problem: you can name a street after someone, but that does not gurantee the namesake will be rmeembered.
In Flushing, there is a Captain Fajardo Playground. I used to think he was an unsung explorer from the time of Columbus or Magellan, but he turned out to be a recent local war hero.
Sure Wade. Sure.
Its pretty sad that the city is always marking something with the flavor of the moment - all those obscure triangles and squares named for WWI vets whose families lived here between 1912 to 1924 for example, or those obscure hacks (RFK would have been a good replacement for Horace Harding).
Take a look at all the second rate art in the subways - every station is just dripping with history, and with the exception of museums or concert halls in NY that are appropiately marked, just second rate art.
Post a Comment