Council Should Get Off Streets, Member Says

The Republican leader of the City Council is fighting back against one of the most common criticisms of the 51-member body: that it wastes its time by renaming dozens of streets each year.

Council Member James Oddo of Staten Island is introducing a bill that would give the city's Department of Transportation a responsibility currently held by the council, calling for the agency to sign off on new street names once they are approved by local community boards.

Council members would, however, still have the authority to call up a street name for a hearing and vote so long as six or more other members support doing so. Mr. Oddo said he likes the tradition of renaming streets in the city, but said, "The council has other pressing matters to handle."

In 2006, the council approved 127 new street and place names; on May 30, it approved another 50, including naming an intersection after a dancer and choreographer, Alvin Ailey, and a street after an actor, Jerry Orbach.

The most recent list was the subject of a battle over its inclusion of a street renaming for a black activist, Sonny Carson, who had declared himself to be "anti-white." Carson's supporters have said he did valuable work in education and helped former convicts find jobs. The council voted down the Carson renaming.

A council member of Brooklyn who is a former Black Panther, Charles Barron, supported the Carson street renaming and said yesterday that local community boards should grant approval for new names. He said he would not be supporting Mr. Oddo's bill if it allowed the council to vote under certain circumstances.

Mr. Oddo noted that his proposal would not prevent a fight like the one waged over Carson, but said that the debate over the issue had made several of his "colleagues scratch their heads and say, ‘Why are we involved in this at all?"

Mr. Oddo admitted that he doesn't think there will be widespread support for his plan.