Is Richmond giving out too many honorary street names? City Council debates cutting back.

In the last few years, the city of Richmond has gotten more generous about approving honorary street names to recognize prominent city residents and historic figures.

Some officials feel the process is becoming too generous, and are now looking to set limits on the process of approving the street designations that require the city to make special signs at $700 a pop.

From 1992 to 2017, according to research by city officials, the City Council approved 22 honorary street names. The council almost matched that number in 2021 alone, approving 19 honorary names in a single year.

That year’s peak was driven largely by 14 honorary street names granted to honor prominent men and women connected to Jackson Ward as part of The JXN Project’s preservation efforts in the historic Black neighborhood.

But the higher numbers weren’t limited to one particular project or neighborhood. In 2022, there were 11 honorary street name designations, according to city officials. There were 17 in 2023, and another 10 this year.

“The number that we’re doing, we do not go through a process of narrowing it down,” Joyce Davis, a City Council policy analyst, said last week as she presented council members with a menu of options to bring more order to the process.

There’s currently no money budgeted specifically for honorary signs, and some officials felt the costs were getting big enough they should be a distinct line item with more rigorous planning for how many signs should be authorized in any given year.

The honorary street names are largely symbolic, with brown signs sitting alongside but not replacing official green street signs.

A nearly hourlong discussion of the issue by the council’s Governmental Operations Committee highlighted the complexity of trying to create a fair system to honor Richmonders of note without going overboard and without bogging things down in bureaucracy.

“This is not to say anyone we honored should not have received that honor,” Councilor Katherine Jordan (2nd District) said at last week’s committee meeting. “It’s just looking ahead. This could escalate quickly. Do we want to have some basic parameters?”

Council members seem to agree there should be a formal process, but there are some big questions they’re still working through.

Should honorees have to be dead or should the city commemorate people who are still alive and accept the risk they could still do something to tarnish their legacy?

Should the honor only go to city residents? Or should it be open to anyone who has made an impact on the city regardless of where they live?

What’s a reasonable number of honorary street signs to ask city workers to put up in any given year?

The council has started to reach consensus on some of those questions. But the big one — how many honorary names should be allowed per year — is still being worked out.

One of the first ideas floated at the committee meeting was capping the number of honorary street names at 10 per year, one each for all nine council members and one for the mayor. 

Some members felt that cap was too restrictive and suggested four per district per year. Jordan pointed out that could mean up to 36 per year, which would be significantly higher than the status quo.

“You could always say ‘I’m sorry, we’ve met our cap this year, we’ll consider you next year,’” Jordan told her colleagues.

Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) cautioned against an overly rigid system that she said might prevent some of the more “non-traditional” honorary street namings she and other council members have pushed for.

She pointed to a 2023 designation approved for Josie Cox, a 17-year-old Huguenot High School senior who died in a car crash at the intersection of Semmes Avenue and W. 22nd Street. Lynch also mentioned a 2021 designation for Sharnez “Shy-Shy” Hill and Neziah “Na-Na” Hill, a mother and her infant daughter who were killed in 2021 after gunfire broke out at Belt Atlantic Apartments in South Richmond.

“The reason why we chose to do that is because every single day when people drive past those streets they have to look at their name,” Lynch said, adding that the honorary signs are a reflection of “who and what we value.”

Many of the people given honorary street name status are pastors, activists, civic leaders and businesspeople. They’re often deceased, but not always.

Last year, a South Richmond street was named in honor of former Mayor Dwight Jones, a pastor who also served in the House of Delegates. Radio personality and occasional political candidate Preston Brown also received the honor in 2023, just a few months before he made headlines for antisemitic comments attacking local activist and casino opponent Paul Goldman.

City staffers have reminded council members there are other ways to honor worthy Richmonders, such as official proclamations at council meetings.

The council committee seemed to agree that there should be a formal application process for honorary street names, a clear policy for reviewing those applications and no cost to those filing applications.

Officials are also exploring the idea of having the city’s newly formed History and Culture Commission take over honorary street naming duties, but the commission hasn’t seemed eager to take on that responsibility any time soon.

Planning Director Kevin Vonck told council members the history commission is focused on creating a comprehensive list of streets and other infrastructure with names tied to the Confederacy and developing a local historical marker program. That’s not quite the same, Vonck said, as evaluating which Richmonders are worthy of honoring.

“I think it’s very different to be evaluating the qualifications of something in the built environment than evaluating the qualifications of a person,” Vonck said.

At the end of the committee discussion, Jordan instructed council staff to create a survey asking the full body to weigh in what kind of cap should be set. The options being floated are a citywide total of 10 per year, four per district per year (36) or two per district per year (18).

With three new council members set to take office as the new year begins, the newcomers’ input could also shape the council’s emerging policy on street signs.

“We’ve fleshed out some of the conversations that are going to be a bit more challenging,” Jordan said.