By Nathan Duke
Douglaston residents may have to wait a little longer for seven numbered streets in the community to return to their original names after Community Board 11 decided this week to hold off on a vote for a month.
The City Council voted to restore the earlier names of six roadways in the neighborhood last fall and the Douglaston Little Neck Historical Society had proposed changing the names of seven other streets back to their original names.
“We are not looking to change the street names,” said Stuart Hersh, a trustee of the historical society. “We are looking to restore them to their original names. This issue is a total no−brainer. I’d like to see all the streets have their names restored.”
Under the proposal, 235th Street between the north and south side of Douglaston Parkway along the Long Island Rail Road will become Main Avenue, while 240th Street between 43rd Avenue and Depew Avenue will be changed to Prospect Avenue.
In addition, 242nd Street between 43rd and 44th avenues will become Hamilton Avenue, 243rd Street between 44th Avenue and Depew Street will change to Orient Avenue, 44th Avenue between Douglaston Parkway and 244th Street will become Church Street, 43rd Avenue between the intersection of Douglaston Parkway and 240th and 243rd streets will change to Pine Street and 42nd Avenue between the LIRR’s dead end and 243rd Street will become Poplar Street.
“This is elitist snobbery,” said Frank Skala, a CB 11 board member and president of the East Bayside Homeowners Association. “If I were the mayor, I’d take all your fancy street names and turn them into numbers so people could find them.”
The city had changed the streets’ signs to numerical names in the 1920s to put them in line with its street grid, but in the 1970s returned them to their original names.
But a number of streets never had their names changed back, leading to confusion over addresses and occasional lost mail.
A project to change the names of numbered streets in Douglaston back to their original names began in the 1970s.
Julia Schoeck, president of the historical society, said she had letters from more than 60 residents of the neighborhood who supported the proposal. But some business owners have complained that renaming the streets would force them to change their cards, stationery and legal documents.
Not all board members supported the proposal.
Scott Hanover, deputy inspector of the 111th Precinct, said the board should ensure that the newly designated street names do not already exist in other borough neighborhoods.
“If there are two addresses in the same borough, you will only get police response to one of them,” he said.
Board member Bernard Haber said the city Department of Transportation probably would not agree to putting up signs with dual street names.
The board will vote on the matter at its May 4 meeting. The Council would then have to vote on the name changes to the city map.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e−mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 156.
