CB8 Street Renaming Guidelines

Note: Resident inquiries and nominations should be submitted directly to the Bronx Community Board 8 Office. For further instructions see below.

Bronx Community Board 8 Standards for Street Rename Changes

  1. Community Board Mandatory Standards
    1. Honoree must be deceased.
    2. Honoree must be nominated by 3 or more organizations which are on the list required to be kept by the Community Board under the new City Charter. Examples of Organizations can be found  here.
    3. Honoree must have demonstrably benefited the community as, for example;
      1. Time: if honoree has devoted time to assist the community, a significant portion of such time should have been devoted on a volunteer basis, without remuneration; or
      2. Creativity: if honoree was a creative or artistic person, honoree must have been identified with community so as to increase local pride in the creative works of the honoree; or
      3. Heroics: if honoree places himself or herself in significant physical danger, above and beyond the call of duty to benefit or protect this community district and/or its inhabitants; or
      4. Elected Officials: honoree may be an elected public official, whose constituency included all or part of the Community Board district, in which case standard 3 (i) may be considered satisfied, because of the extensive nature of community involvement by public officials.
        (For more guidance on this standard, see Discretionary Standard No. 3)
    4. At least 2 years must have elapsed between decease of the nominee and the final vote by Bronx Community Board 8.
    5. The location bearing the name change should have a specific connection to the life or work of the honoree.
    6. The name change should not engender confusion (i.e., too many other similar names in the vicinity).
  2. Community Board Discretionary Standards (Introduction: the Community Board need not approve all proposals which fit within the mandatory guidelines. The following will also be considered):
    1. Honoree’s impact should be on widest possible cross-section of the community (i.e., benefiting a neighborhood rather than a single building).
    2. The nominating organizations should reflect the diversity of the community district.
    3. The honoree should be associated with creation of specific neighborhood project (a park, a youth program, tenants group, etc.) or with aid to those in need (youth, elderly, the poor, the disabled, etc.) or with work which has bettered the lives of a wide population and has reflected credit on this community district, or with exceptional valor and heroism beyond the call of duty.
    4. Special consideration will be given where honoree’s death was untimely or occurred in the course of honoree’s community work.
  3. Street Co-Naming of a
    1. The site or building must be at least 30 years old.
    2. The site or building must have a special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the community district, city, state or nation.
    3. The site or building must be nominated by 3 or more organizations which are on the list required to be kept by the Community Board under the new City Charter.
    4. The location bearing the name change should have a specific connection to the site or building.
    5. The street co-name change should not engender confusion (i.e., too many other similar names in the vicinity).
  4. Procedure
    1. Upon nomination by 3 or more community groups, the proposed name change will be referred to the Traffic and Transportation Committee, or the Parks and Recreation Committee which will upon written notice, consider the proposal within the next 90 days and recommend acceptance or rejection.
    2. The Executive Committee, at its first meeting following the vote on the proposal by the Traffic and Transportation Committee, or the Parks and Recreation Committee, will consider the proposal upon written notice, and may recommend acceptance or rejection of the name change.
    3. After the first approval by a Committee of the Community Board, but, in any event before the vote of the full Board, consent to the proposal must be obtained from the family of the honoree (usually, through the next of kin). After eliciting consent, the process may continue.
    4. Any Committee vote shall also include the reasons for approval or rejection, under these standards.
    5. Following the vote by the Executive Committee, any of the following may bring the matter onto the agenda of the next meeting of Community Board No. 8:
      The Traffic and Transportation Committee, or the Parks and Recreation Committee, the Executive Committee, and/or any member of the Board
      Once added to the agenda, upon written notice, to the members the proposal will be submitted to a vote at two successive Board meetings (unless it is defeated at the first vote of the Board). Two successive affirmative results are necessary (one at each of two monthly meetings) to approve the name change.
    6. The above schedule may be extended whenever any committee, or the Board, decides it needs further information. In such case, consideration of the proposal, may be tabled month-to-month, until such information is obtained.