There are about 8,000 miles of streets criss-crossing New York City, and in its last vote of 2021, the City Council voted to rename or co-name 199 of them. But that doesn’t mean your map app is about to get a big upgrade: most only cover a block or a corner, and the process is often seen as a small way to memorialize a person or honor an institution or community with a connection to the place.
To get a street renamed, you have to start with the bottom rung of the city’s bureaucracy: the community board. Each one has their own twists and variations to the process, but there are a couple of hard and fast rules when it comes to renaming streets after people.
“It has to be someone who's deceased, unfortunately, and they had to make some considerable contribution to the community,” said Queens Community Board 9 district manager James McClelland.
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