CNBNews

Changing the names of numerous streets in Gloucester City would be a huge mistake. A lot of folks are still trying to figure out the difference between Stinson Avenue and Stinsman Avenue. Residents of Ridgway Street have been spelling the street's name wrong for years, as has the city's signage, for "Ridgeway" Street.

Vietnam hero Wayne Colantuono's name was misspelled in the front-page article submitted for last week's City News, as "Colantuno."

Combined with the one-block, one-way streets and any other anomalies someone may be cooking up, the City's residents, their visitors and tourists will be confused for years. All the effort that has gone into making street names compatible with the 9-1-1 emergency system will be undone with a few pen strokes. My home phone sends my address to 9-1-1 dispatchers automatically now.

It is a good public safety measure, but would be irretrievably lost if the street name were changed. I can hear myself trying to explain to Comcast why my street is different from its emergency-management location.

Changing the names of streets on the City's plat map and spending money twice (once for the "period of adjustment" and again for the permanent signage) may satisfy a vocal – and honorable – constituency, but it will be a disaster everywhere else. All the maps distributed by Camden County will be wrong for years. So will the multitude of internet mapping services like MapQuest and Google, and the commercial maps bought at gas stations, convenience stores and book stores.

In Canada, a movement is underway to name streets after Canada's Provinces, just as ours are named after New Jersey's counties, instead of faraway places. While we are at it, why not rename the City as well?

There are genuine, historical reasons why our City and its streets were given English place names. Before becoming the king, Shakespeare's Richard III was the Duke of Gloucester in real life 500 years or so before Billy Thompson was given the title.

Historian Crane Brinton warned against changing place names, especially street names, after a change in government administrations because of the unease it causes among the populace. And, no reputable City planner would recommend doing what's proposed here.

I implore the vets and other interested parties to place their suggestions for street-name changes on new streets in proposed new developments in the city or come up with another, more imaginative and less hazardous way to honor the fallen heroes we all venerate.

Stephen N. Roche, Gloucester City