Community Corner

Hearing Tonight for East Berkeley Street Name Change

Councilor Bill Linehan said he hopes to "flush out" the street name-change process with the city's Public Improvement Commission.

The city council is hosting a public hearing tonight at 6 p.m. to discuss efforts to restore East Berkeley Street to its original name.

Stop by the hearing, which will be held at the , if you’re interested in the effort or the process by which the city approves street name changes.

The hearing was called by City Councilor Bill Linehan who has worked alongside members of the Old Dover Neighborhood Association to get the street’s name changed from East Berkeley to Dover Street, the original name of the portion of Berkeley Street running from Tremont to Albany Street.

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“The Dover Street name remains both historically significant and representative of the unique history of the South End,” Linehan said at a Council meeting last month. “Berkeley Street is really a Back Bay name, it’s not a South End name.”

The city changed the name to East Berkeley in 1967, Linehan said, but the process by which the change was made remains unclear. The city’s Public Improvement Commission currently lists seven requirements under its Street Name Policy, some of which would be nearly impossible to satisfy, Linehan said. At least one recent name change has been approved without completing all seven, he added.

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“The present policy is so cumbersome, it’s completely restrictive,” he said. “You need 100 percent of people who live on the street [to approve the change]. If the street’s more than a block that ain’t happening.”

Representatives from the Commission will be present at the hearing to answer questions regarding the name-change process. The Old Dover Association has already received approval from a vast majority of residents and business owners in the area, Linehan said.


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