Street cred: Aldermen want to name Delmar for Obama
President-elect Barack Obama may have narrowly lost Missouri, but if a group of St. Louis officials get their way, he’ll have his own street running through the heart of the city.
The Board of Aldermen has on its agenda for Friday’s meeting a bill to dedicate Delmar Boulevard as “Barack Obama Boulevard.”
Delmar — which has been traditionally regarded as the boundary between north and south St. Louis — runs the length of the city, from Midtown through the West End.
The bid to designate the street for Obama is apparently being led by Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett, an early Obama supporter who is listed as the lead sponsor of the board bill.
Signing on as co-sponsors are four other aldermen — all Democrats — who have parts of Delmar in their wards.
If they are successful, the street would be “honorarily” designated for Obama, though for all practical purposes — like maps and most street signs — it would likely continue to be known as Delmar.
The most well-known portion of Delmar — “the Loop” — runs mostly through University City, and would not be effected by the legislation. Plus, the aldermen who represents the part of the Delmar Loop on the St. Louis side, Lyda Krewson, has not added her name to the bill.
Either way, St. Louis joins a growing number of cities not content to wait for inauguration to begin honoring the president-elect. In South Florida, the city of Opa-locka wants to name an avenue for Obama, while in Long Island, N.Y. a grade school has been renamed Barack Obama Elementary. In Perry County, Ala., the county commission has declared the second Monday in November as “Barack Obama Day.”
Of course, St. Louis aldermen generally don’t need much encouragement to dedicate roadways for well-known individuals: Stan Musial, Dred Scott, Jack Buck and Bill Clay, to name few, all have streets designated in their honor.
Honoring people too early is usually a bad idea. How’s that Mark McGwire Highway working out for you?
You know, I am fine with naming things after presidents and I understand the desire to be proud of the first african american president bit this seems a little quick. What happens if he breaks the law or is for some reason impeached in a few years? All this stuff will have to be changed back. Seems a little premature to immortalize a person who may (hopefully not) not deserve to be immortalized. And for the record, I would say the same thing about McCain or anyone else.
Here’s an idea…why don’t we wait to see if he is actually a good president before we do naming anything after him. For all we know, he could end up in less favor than Bust at the end of 8 years.
I guess these aldermen have never heard the phrase “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”.
You have got to be kidding me! He hasn’t even taken office yet. This is getting absurd. Tell the alderman to worry about other things, like the crime rate, rather than renaming a street after the “Messiah”.
Give me a break. Anyone who votes for this should be voted out of office simply because they aren’t spending their time on real issues. This is a terrible idea.
Why doesnt she name some street in her own district Obama????
Kacie Starr Tripplet is my alderwoman and this is a typical waste of her time and our city’s resources.
Name a street after a president-elect? Sure
Tackle tough issues like cleaning up city parks or working with the street department to fix our street lights? No way.
She is quickly turning into a FALLING STAR. Does Delmar even run in her ward
Let’s name it “Sloppy Second Avenue” in honor of Sean Avery instead…