First Batch of New UWS Secondary Street Namings Voted on by Local Community Board

By Gus Saltonstall

Each year, the New York City Council and mayor approve dozens of secondary, or honorary, street namings across the five boroughs, including on the Upper West Side. You can see hundreds of them throughout the city, like the one below, which the Rag covered here.

Before a secondary street naming is approved, though, local community boards throughout the city must weigh in on applications involving their districts.

The Upper West Side’s Community Board 7 lays out the guidelines for secondary street naming on its website. Here are the key criteria: a petition with at least 100 signatures from the local area is needed to get the bureaucratic ball rolling, and then you must present “compelling evidence that the person or not-for-profit entity…contributed in an extraordinary way to the welfare of the block and/or the community and the country.”

Community boards do not have the power to approve or deny the secondary street namings, but their resolutions on whether or not to recommend a new secondary street name are generally mirrored by their local councilmembers and the mayor.

At an Upper West Side Community Board 7 meeting on October 1, the first four proposed neighborhood secondary street namings were voted on by the full board. If a secondary name is approved, a new sign is installed at a specific corner with the new name.

Here are the results and some details about the people the secondary namings would honor.

Northeast corner of West 84th Street and Amsterdam Avenue: Linda Carter-Cooper Way

Community Board 7, with a vote of 32 in favor, two against, and two abstentions, recommended approval for the northeast corner of West 84th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to be co-named “Linda Carter-Cooper Corner.”

Carter-Cooper was a longtime resident of West 84th Street, where she was a tenant advocate, a member of the local school board, a site coordinator for the Board of Elections, and a leader in the All Angels Basketball Program at the Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy at 26 West 84th Street.

At the church, she also served as a Sunday School teacher.

“Linda Carter-Cooper exemplifies the best of the spirit of community and neighborliness, for whose contributions our District is grateful, and whose memory is a benefit to us all,” Community Board 7 wrote in its resolution to approve the application.

Northeast corner of West 98th Street and Broadway: In honor of Oscar Abolafia

The secondary naming of the northeast corner of West 98th Street and Broadway in honor of photographer Oscar Abolafia was the lone secondary naming that Community Board 7 did not vote to fully support.

While the full board vote was still supportive with 29 in favor, three against, and five choosing to abstain, the Transportation Committee, which specifically oversees the secondary street namings, voted seven in favor to four against.

CB7 received both a petition and presentation is favor of the secondary naming for Abolafia, who had a celebrated career as a photographer and lived on West 98th Street for more than 40 years. Many residents of the block described him as a longtime positive and lively presence on the UWS street.

There was unexpected pushback to the new name by other community members, though.

“At the hearing, to the surprise of the Committee, oral presentations by other residents of the same building presented markedly different accounts of Mr. Abolafia’s interactions with residents and neighbors that detracted from the accounts on which the application was based,” Community Board 7 wrote.

It was therefore resolved, that CB7 could not offer a recommendation either for or against the specific secondary street naming.

Southeast corner of West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue: Ethel Deas Way

Community Board 7 voted 32 in favor, two against, and two abstentions, to recommend approval for the northeast corner of West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to be co-named “Ethel Deas Way.”

Deas was the longtime crossing guard at Amsterdam Avenue and West 105th Street for students at P.S. 145 and West Prep Academy.

When Community Board 7 helped lead the process to re-envision the Bloomingdale Playground at Amsterdam and West 104th Street, Deas emphasized to project leaders that issues related to the safety and security for children must be included in the final plan.

“The Upper West Side is a better place for having had Ms. Deas’s watchful eye and warm smile be a part of the early childhood experience in our neighborhood,” Community Board 7 wrote.

Southwest corner of West 109th Street and Broadway: Thich Nhat Hanh Way

Community Board 7 voted 32 in favor, two against, and two abstentions, to recommend approval for the southwest corner of West 109th Street and Broadway to be co-named “Thich Nhat Hanh Way.”

Hanh was a world renowned Buddhist monk, who lived on West 109th Street while teaching at the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University in the 1960s. He also gave lectures at Riverside Church, Beacon Theater, and wrote a book called “Fragrant Palm Leaves” that chronicled his life on the Upper West Side.

Hanh was exiled from both north and south Vietnam for the majority of his life due to his advocacy for peace, and for the rights of the Viet Cong.

This secondary street naming would “serve to honor and inspire advocacy for peace in a community that can justly claim a consistent activism in the advancement of the cause of peace and justice, both at home and throughout the world,” a petition in support of the secondary naming reads.

West Side Rag will update this article when the secondary namings are made official.

See a list of all the secondary street names on the UWS and the stories behind them — HERE.

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