Submitted by HobokenJ t3_y9ujtm in jerseycity
FTA: "Christopher Columbus Drive is the Jersey City equivalent of Confederate statues – and as horrifying. "
Submitted by HobokenJ t3_y9ujtm in jerseycity
FTA: "Christopher Columbus Drive is the Jersey City equivalent of Confederate statues – and as horrifying. "
It would certainly be more convenient to have a street name that fits on a license and other mailing address labels
My proposal: each six months we change just one letter until we reach the spelling of the new name.This ensures a gradual transition and no radical address change. So obviously the new name has to be as close as possible o the original spelling. Which is why my proposal for the new name is “Det Colombo”, in honor of the beloved 70’s Peter Falk tv character, whom I believe is universally loved unlike Columbus the explorer.
Amy DeGise Hit and Run Way
DeliveryBikesPleaseGetOutOfThe Way
if that was a please, I'd hate to see the unpolite version.
This is brilliant
Well, I AM Jersey City's biggest fan. It's only fair that they'd name a street after me.
But I find that Christopher Columbus guy inspiring. I'm a big fan of the death and destruction he left in his wake.
Railroad Ave!
My mom (old time JC native) still exclusively uses this name.
This is the correct answer
More like Luxury Ave. nowadays, amirite?
/s
Even if we do decide to rename it I guarantee it somehow turns into a shit show. The hispanic population in the 70's and 80's wanted to name what is now Manila Ave after something culturally relevant and the city council shot them down, some years later the Filipino community request it be named Manila Ave and it was approved. So then the hispanic community was like "what the hell" and so the city council decided to rename Henderson St. to Luis M Marin blvd.
Not saying this is a reason not to rename it, just that whatever happens I can almost guarantee there will be more people unhappy with the change than not.
Yeah, cheap pandering to ethnic voting blocs aint was it used to be.
I like my pandering like I like my coffee.
Expensive.
>city council decided to rename Henderson St. to Luis M Marin blvd.
It's actually Luis Muñoz Marín Blvd. But, Americans can't wrap their minds around the concept of two last names, and the "ñ" is also a bitch to pronounce, so those signs were later replaced with LMM Blvd, and now just Marin Blvd. But, it is now so devoid of any sense that even Puerto Ricans would fail to recognize the naming as it being in honor of the island's first democratically elected governor, because no one would ever drop the first last name and use just the second last name. So, unless you know the history of the street naming, one would be more likely to assume that it is named after the same Marin as Marin County in California.
Next you’re going to tell me Marin doesn’t rhyme with Darren.
Ha! Bingo!!
Wow, I learned something today, thanks!
(Btw, just pronounce ñ as "ni", so read Muñoz as Munioz, and you're good to go).
>Wow, I learned something today, thanks!
I know... it's nuts that this stuff gets so overlooked even by locals who have been around a while.
​
>just pronounce ñ as "ni"
Not quite perfect, but very close.
It’s a stretch to imagine that any American, even of Puerto Rican descent, would know who that is lol.
Dude, if someone claims to be Puerto Rican and they don't know who LMM was, then they are full of shit. To many, he is the Puerto Rican equivalent of George Washington. Anyone flying into the island is landing at the international airport, which is named after him. A ton of roads, buildings, schools, etc are named after him. And, even in the US he was widely heralded in his lifetime, featured on the cover of TIME magazine three times, and also featured on a USPS stamp.
Okay I should amend it to non Puerto Rican Americans who are not historians by trade or hobby. I think I’m generally well informed and educated and have never heard of him!
> the Puerto Rican equivalent of George Washington
I love the part where he admits to cutting down the palm tree.
I’m not Puerto Rican but I taught in a Puerto Rican neighborhood and the school down the block from mine was named after LMM. My school was named after the musician Rafael Hernandez and another down the street was named after Roberto Clemente. So I’d say with LMM being in that company, he’s pretty well known and highly regarded.
Spotted Lanternfly Lane
Mediocre Pizza Ave
School Tax Turnpike
Reckless Driver Road
Gentrification Drive
​
(Just spit-balling here...)
Displacement Drive
Thank you for the hearty laugh today
coffee shop taco bar way
Geese Excrement Place
Luxury housing boulevard
Honestly I have no strong preference. If enough people are bothered by this, we should change it though
Waste of tax payers money while people in the neighborhood need help
We could auction it off!
GoldenPalace.com Drive
*DraftKings/Fanduel enters the room.
I don't give a shit what it's called, but changing it will be a huge inconvenience and there is a price attached to changing all that signage.
I say leave it.
Fuck off
Shit they had a whole parade. I’m Italian American but I do not see this fascination with Columbus.
I make fun of my Italian friends by letting them know they don't have many options.
Tony Soprano Way 😤
Rather a fictitious mobster than Columbus tbh
Funny, that’s how I make fun of my male friends
It's all about ethnic pride. In the early 20th century you had this huge influx of Southern European immigrants into a country created under a Hegemony of WASPs. They wanted to express that they too had a representative in the creation of this country and settled upon good old Chris, who had no idea where he was till the day he died.
Yeah he was a racist piece of shit, and as such was a perfectly representative man of his time. Cancel culture demands to be fed....
He was not a "man of his time". He was investigated and arrested for his barbaric rule of Hispaniola, and shipped back to Spain for trial, where his fame and rich connections got him acquitted.
It took a LOT to get arrested for your treatment of natives in the early 1500s, and Columbus was MUCH worse than most people realize.
Using and selling 10 yr olds as sex slaves, and cutting the hands off anyone who didn't deliver a specific gold quota, WITHOUT even checking if that amount of gold existed first was never "normal for its time".
Besides all that, whenever someone calls barbarism "normal for its time", they always seem to ignore the opinions of those being oppressed... It certainly wasn't "normal" for the Taino people, who refused to grow crops and committed suicide by eating casava poison to escape Columbus' rule of terror.
It's like saying "sure, he was a serial killer, but that's pretty common, according to the authors of 'Serial Killers Monthly'."
ITALIAN-AMERICAN DRIVE
Marconi Drive
macaroni drive
Nope. Marconi stole the radio from Nikola Tesla. Look it up, was affirmed in a US Supreme Court case. Marconi was a self promoter second only to Edison.
Yeah, but wasn't Tesla kind of insufferable? Sheldon Cooper is a toned down Tesla.
Yes he was totally Asperger's, but I don't believe he was actively annoying, just uninterested in other people for the most part. That included a disinterest in collecting accolades. He also discovered X-rays, thought it was interesting and moved on to something else interesting.
But that doesn't mean it's ok for other people to take credit for his discoveries, any more that was ok for Edison to take personal credit for the work of his lab staff.
Amerigo Vespucci Avenue.
Leif Ericson Way?
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Then let's rename Essex and Sussex Streets, too, because I feel... uncomfortable saying these street names around my immature self.
Essex ~ Kingdom of the East Saxons ~ Eastern part of England settled by (Anglo-)Saxon conquerors
Sussex ~ Kingdom of the South Saxons ~ Southern part of England settled by (Anglo-)Saxon conquerors
What’s amusing is that Sussex County in New Jersey is the northernmost county, even though its namesake is literally ~ “land in the south”.
At least middlesex county is in the middle
You left out the most important one: Wessex, The Last Kingdom! Ive always wondered what name the Saxons in the north took. Never heard of Nussex, and Northumbria is a bit far. Also always wondered why there's Norfolk and Suffolk but no Ostfolk and Westfolk.
People worry themselves with such stupid garbage. There’s a ton of corrupt politicians/policies to address in this city/state/country and some dipshit takes the time to write an article that would induce eye rolls if it was written by a high school sophomore. Columbus may have been shitty, but at this point I want the opposite of anything that people like the author want.
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No need. It’s still named Columbus Drive.
Property taxes going up $2k a year but we're talking about renaming roads.
Exaaaactly. Distractions
Just call it Columbus Drive and drop the Christopher part. Officially.
Just keep going with the word jumbles. I for one find the character of Columbo delightful
THIS. "Eh... pardon me, ma'am... can you point me to Columbo Dr?"
Not much different than Tonelle, Tonnele, and Tonnelle
Just cut off the head of the Robert E. Lee statue and put a pumpkin on top!
That's a statue. Not a road whose name is intertwined into many folks' lives.
We can just get rid of the statue.
Here we go.
The time was over a decade ago, but yes. The good thing for the chances of this happening is that there are so few Italian-Americans left in this city, that the dems in charge don't really have to worry about trying to buy their votes. This is the reason we have the Katyn statue btw - dems vote-buying the otherwise conservative Polish-American voting bloc.
hey, cant argue with what works...now they get to threaten to move it and 'save katyn' every few years..
What will happen to all the names of luxury buildings? 90 Columbus gets renamed as well?
Won’t somebody please think of the luxury buildings!
90 Indigenous Peoples, 70 Indigenous Peoples, etc.
🤷♂️
Meh
People like you think they're solving problems, but instead you're creating more. Why don't you advocate for something more meaningful instead of this virtue signalling childish bs.
Let’s be honest…Fulop going to name it after himself
This nonsense is why we're going to lose the midterms. This shit is a pointless waste of time.
This is why “we” are going to lose the midterms? Not the insane lead-poisoned cult brainwashed by a fascist reality tv perv clown? Not the illegally gerrymandered districts and voter suppression that the GOP has been pushing for decades? Jesus fucking Christ—the other guys are literally taking our rights away but clearly WE are the bad guys here because someone broached the idea of potentially changing a street name. Right. Right.
We are not the bad guys. They are the bad guys. We are bad at strategy. We are bad at message discipline. Unfortunately, those things fucking matter.
edit: I don't think that I fully got my reply out in my initial message, so I want to add on to this:
Jersey City, it's time to protect abortion rights.
Jersey City, it's time to prevent antidemocratic, fascist forces from taking over a second branch of our government.
Jersey City, it's time to protect the right to contraception, gay marriage, and privacy rights from a stolen Supreme Court.
Sure, Christopher Columbus was a dick, but comparing naming a street after him to the statues of actual traitors who levied war against the United States is either ignorant or disingenuous, but is unquestionably really, really fucking stupid. Would I choose to rename Columbus Drive? Sure, seems fine with me, but it's like, the 100,000th most important political cause out there these days. Shut the fuck up about that and spend your time advocating for something actually meaningful.
Rs are out here screaming about Jews getting out of the country and towing the line before is too late, and making kids cry over colorful murals they painted in support of friends and Ds are going to lose over renaming a street.
Maybe, just maybe, that does not signify a problem with liberals.
This city is getting too woke for me!
I couldn’t care less. It’s just going to create a whole bunch of administrative work. All for what? It’s not like it’s called Hitler’s Way ave.
This is a really bad take. "It's fine guys, at least it's not named after the most infamous instigator of genocide, just like a mid-tier one"
Where’s the line then? If you change names on this, then it’s a slippery slope and next thing you know statues are coming down cuz they were associated with a slave owner back in the 1700s.
I'd be perfectly OK with not honoring people who infringed upon human rights? Does not feel like a particularly slippery slope.
George Washington was a slave owner. The C in Washington DC is Columbia. District of Columbia was named in honor of Columbus. Do want to rename the US capitol too?
Personally I’d be totally fine with renaming the capital (and giving its residents representation in congress as well). Believe it or not, cities, including capitals, have been renamed before.
YES DUDE WHY NOT?! Why would you continue to honor people who used their power to literally use and abuse other human beings to continue to grow their power and influence.
Please, go on and continue to try to convince me that this is a good thing. I'm dying to see what convoluted arguments you come up with next.
Columbus represents the discovery of the west which should be celebrated. Hence the reason why cities, countries, an Ivy League school, a national holiday, and roads are all named after him.
I don’t think anyone’s honoring Columbus with the current street name. In fact, who even likes that road lol, it’s chaos.
My point is, let’s not honor these people with future project names and street names. But the slippery slope is when you open up everything to change because someone did something that’s not good. Every town in America can probably find something to change. Are we going to push to change all that? Those aren’t the issues we need to focus on today.
Human rights, environmental protection, future of our society. That’s what we need to focus on, not changing street names in every town. That shouldn’t be top of yhe list
This is another bad take, which implies that just because there is a bigger problem doesn't mean that other smaller problems can't be solved. You are implying that people will be satiated by the smaller problems and forget about the bigger ones, when in reality that's rarely the case. We can solve both.
Why do you want to be ok with honoring people who did really bad things in addition to good things? Why is this normal and ok and cool? Columbus literally advocated and enabled genocide of indigenous people on several Caribbean islands because of imposition of religions that they had never even heard of. Please explain to me why this is something that should be swept under the rug and forgotten because he was also an explorer.
Everything outside of downtown would be a good start for the city ffs. It’s just a street name. Half the people don’t even care about the street name.
What’s one genocide promoter compared to another?
Djura Grill Ave
MVP food truck
had to scroll WAY to far for this one
I'd say It's time for the author to move out of jersey city and go to brooklyn or queens instead.
drivey McDriveface
Nah, we’re not nearly as cool with crowd sourced naming public infrastructure/machines as the UK. They’re the undisputed pros
If we're going to pull on this politically correct string, let's go all the way and say we should return the whole damn place to the Lenape and let them name the street whatever the fuck they want. Then the address of your former condo will be moot.
Hell yeah! Symbols of oppression should be torn down!
Lmao what a dumb suggestion. “horrific”
Why is it horrific?
Chilltown Road
I ran down the list of native sons/daughters to see if there was anyone worth renaming a street after. Martha Stewart's probably the most famous, although Kool & the Gang Avenue would get my vote.
But one more name jumped out at me — how does this city not have an alleyway named Nathan Lane?
Posted several hours later by a different author: https://www.nj.com/hudson/2022/10/columbus-voyages-were-a-significant-human-achievement-he-deserves-to-be-honored-opinion.html
You're so woke. Congrats!
Bring back railroad ave
Lets go all the way back before the original Dutch gentrification in the 1600's. Lenape Drive it is!
Or better yet... Lenape trail!
Railroad Ave
There take it back to its original name. Railroad Ave!!
shut up. lol
Having Railroad Ave for the name would be better because it represents a better history of what Jersey City used to be like, the old history.
While we're at it being back Jackson Ave
Nah fuck that
Lenape Blvd?
Get rid of the name and name it something more prominent to celebrate Italian heritage
If they want to keep it Italian heritage based maybe Garibaldi Blvd?
Nathan Lane Drive
[removed]
[removed]
Taco Bell Blvd.
Lenape Drive
Easiest thing would be to just remove the Columbus part and call it Christopher Drive, named after Christopher Street in Manhattan. That way it can be just as confusing as Penn Station (Newark) and Penn Station (New York).
Martin Luther King Blvd
No Parking Ever Dr.
This is a rebuttal to the Timothy Herrick “Opinion” piece. Oddly his is free to read yet this is a pay for “Subscriber Exclusive”. Too long to post the whole thing.
Columbus’ voyages were a significant human achievement. He deserves to be honored | Opinion
Updated: Oct. 21, 2022, 4:45 p.m.|Published: Oct. 21, 2022, 4:02 p.m.
By Jersey Journal Guest Columnist
By John DiGenio
Timothy Herrick would have us believe that “Christopher Columbus Drive is the Jersey City equivalent of Confederate statues – and as horrifying.” Mr. Herrick weaves an incoherent tapestry of pseudo-history that manages to sew Columbus’s “first encounter” to the experiences that colonialists had with the Native Americans in what would become Jersey City.
https://www.nj.com/hudson/2022/10/columbus-voyages-were-a-significant-human-achievement-he-deserves-to-be-honored-opinion.html
Indigenous Peoples Drive?
Oh god no. Purely from the perspective that I live on Columbus and always fuck up spelling “indigenous” and that is way too many characters for the post office to handle on an address line.
As it is Christopher Columbus Drive is too many characters. It should go back to Railroad Ave if anything.
Meant it ironically.
Boss Hague Way.
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Albee Al Dr
Chilltown Drive.
Get all your dumb ,fake woke self-righteous tools, out of our city, jersey city uis way better then the progressive waste.
Yeah, probably. Not only was he a dumbass, we was an evil bastard EVEN FOR HIS TIME.
LUXURY drive
How about Ukraine Drive
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suh_dude1111 t1_it7hhac wrote
As someone who lives on Christopher Columbus drive my support for this is entirely dependent on how inconvenient this would make my life