City Committee Meeting Hears Report on Street Renaming Policy

[UPDATED] The City’s Public Works Department presented a detailed overview of the city’s street renaming policies at the Legislative Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday.

Highlighting the lack of specific guidelines for renaming existing streets, Frielier explained the department’s reliance on California’s Streets and Highways Code for structure.

The discussion included a review of naming policies from six similar cities, revealing varied evaluation criteria. Notably, most policies discourage naming streets after living individuals, focusing instead on historical or cultural significance. A petition signed by a majority of affected property owners is typically required for any name change request.

“Our internal process has been utilized four times in the last 30 years, primarily to honor individuals for their contributions to the city,” Rele said, referencing past name changes including those honoring Thurgood Marshall and James Plotkin.

The City’s process came up earlier this year after a supporter requested the City rename a street after the R&B group Troop which was formed in Pasadena.

On Tuesday. Frelier noted that while the municipal code outlines procedures for naming new streets, it lacks direction for renaming, prompting the department to develop an internal process that aligns with policies from other Southern California cities.

Councilmember Jess Rivas expressed interest in the potential for honorary street names as an alternative to officially renaming streets.

Committee members discussed the need for a balanced approach, considering the impact on local residents and the significance of the namesakes.

The committee suggested requiring a supermajority of support from nearby property owners for any renaming, a higher threshold than some cities employ.

“It impacts them in the first instance,” said Vice Mayor Steve Madison. “There should be very much cultural or historical significance. It’s hard to quantify that in legislation.”

Madison said the City possibly could look at past examples of people who have had streets named after them, including US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

However, a direct connection between Marshall and Pasadena was not cited in 1993 when part of Ramona Street was named after the first Black Supreme Court Justice.

Marshall received the honor seven months after he died in 1993 after requests by the Altadena and Pasadena NAACP branches.

“The secretary of the interior’s standards for designating a historical residence or home actually has loose standards for helping determine if someone is a person of significance,” Councilmember Jason Lyon. “So that might be a place to look as well if you talk to them, that could give us some guidance.”

The committee plans to revisit the topic in future meetings, aiming to establish clear guidelines that honor Pasadena’s history while engaging the community in the renaming process.

Frelier concluded by inviting further thoughts from the committee on the direction of the street renaming policy. “We look forward to continuing our research and incorporating your feedback,” Frelier said.