The Naming of Streets

Since the 200 block of Warren Street was honorarily named for the Jake and Barbara Walthour in 2024, there have been a couple more proposals for honorary street naming: a stretch of South Front Street for longtime DPW superintendent Charlie Butterworth, and the 500 block of Warren Street for former mayors Fred Wheeler and Sam Wheeler. Typically, the Common Council passes the resolutions without objection or much discussion. Not so the latest proposal.

At the informal Council meeting on Monday, a resolution was introduced for the honorary naming of City Hall Place "Lou Brenner Way" for the oldest living retired member of the Hudson Police Department. Brenner, who served as a police officer in Hudson from 1952 to 1972, celebrated his 100th birthday on March 21.

City Hall Place was presumably chosen because, for ten of the twenty years Brenner served as a police officer, the police department was headquartered in City Hall, the building we now know as Hudson Hall. (City Hall moved to 520 Warren Street in 1962.)

When the resolution came before the Council on Monday, Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) expressed the opinion that proclamation, declaring a "Lou Brenner Day," giving him the key to the City, and making him a part of the Common Council contingent in the Flag Day parade would be a more appropriate way to honor Brenner. Merante alluded to the criteria for honorary street naming set forth in Chapter 267  of the city code: 

(1) The honoree must have made a demonstrable and significant positive impact on the community or contributed to the cultural, economic, educational, intellectual, political or scientific vitality of the community or have made an extraordinary contribution in service of humanity.

(2) The honoree must be a natural person, and no living individual shall be the subject of a proposed dedication, except by unanimous consent of the Common Council.

Merante questioned if longevity should qualify someone for the honor of having a street named for them.

Council president Margaret Morris maintained that the proposal was in conformance with the law as it was passed, and it was not the Council's job to decide what would be more appropriate. She noted that the Council was under no obligation to pass the resolution and advised if there were objections members should not vote in favor of it. The Council will votes on the resolution on Tuesday, April 28.

The idea of assigning a honorary name to City Hall Place calls to mind that in 2010, when Ellen Thurston was named Citizen of the Year by the Hudson Rotary Club, Victor Mendolia and Sarah Sterling arranged for City Hall Place to be temporarily renamed "Thurston Place." The dedication was appropriate both for Ellen's tireless work in support of the Hudson Opera House and because the presentation of the Citizen of the Year award was to take place in the building once known as City Hall, then known as the Hudson Opera House, and now known as Hudson Hall.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK