A New York State Supreme Court judge has confirmed that Staten Island Borough President James Oddo can name three streets in a new property development with words that imply greediness and deceitfulness on the part of the developers.
Property developers Savo Brothers tore down a 100-year-old Jesuit retreat to make way for their latest project, then sued the Borough President over the “derogatory” names he chose for their new streets: ” Cupidity Drive, Fourberie Lane and Avidity Place.”
Oddo confirmed that the street names were a dig against the developers, tweeting, “The fact is that the names chosen are auricularly pleasing and historically illuminative.”
The developers had asked Oddo to choose from names line “Timber Lane, Lamb Run, Lazy Bird Lane and Amber Heights Drive.”
Timber Lane, Oddo argued, was particularly insensitive since trees were cut down on the site to make way for the new homes.
In December, DNAinfo quoted Oddo as having written on his Facebook page, “That’s right, ‘Timber’ Lane, as in the word of warning that is popularly known to be yelled out to warn folks that a tree is being cut down.”
Staten Island borough president gets approval to name new streets for greed
[Sally Goldenberg/Capital New York]
(via Naked Capitalism)