[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]Andy Weissman is not often in a minority, but he was on Monday night.
He and Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary were the only City Council members who kept arms at their sides when Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells was searching for two more votes in support of overturning the name of Washington Place. The new moniker would be Louis Armstrong Avenue. Or perhaps Satchmo Place?
“I felt strongly about this Monday night,” he said. “I didn’t think it was an idea I wanted staff to spend time on. I don’t believe we need to make a change.
“I don’t believe the benefits that were identified were worth the burden and inconvenience.”
Mr. Weissman served an alternative suggestion.
“If we are going to recognize an individual for extraordinary contributions to the community,” he said, “there are less intrusive ways than changing the name of a street.”
He offered a few.
“We could use the idea that (colleague) Jim Clarke brought up at the meeting. In Los Angeles, they sometimes take an intersection and name it after an individual.
“I suggested that if we are going to recognize Louis Armstrong, we could rename the expanded Town Plaza when it gets built as part of the Parcel B development,” said the elder statesman of the City Council. “We could call it Louis Armstrong Plaza.”
As for the follow-through on the mayor’s suggested name change, “it remains to be seen whether it has any legs,” Mr. Weissman said.
Whether or not that happens, “this is certainly going to raise its profile.”
One of the motivations for making a name change, said Mayor Sahli-Wells, is that in growing up here, she confused Washington Boulevard and Washington Place, resulting in her being tardy for meetings.
