Major street gets new name; and a report on dirty signs

Did you notice that -- almost in time for Independence Day -- a stretch of Independence Boulevard has a new name? From Kenilworth Avenue (at the Midtown redevelopment area) over to Seventh Street it's now Charlottetown Avenue. An article in the Observer last week revealed the news. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing or irrelevant? Thoughts welcome below.

One longtime Charlottean likes the idea of memorializing Charlottetown Mall (later known as Midtown Square), even if it's only on a small green sign. She wrote:

"Even if building it did cover Sugar Creek with concrete ... and even though I will be right in line when the Target opens where I once stood in line as a high schooler to see "Star Wars" at what was then the biggest theater in town ... I like it that "Charlottetown" -- and all it says about where Charlotte's been and is going -- will live on in a subtle, tiny way. A street sign. Pure Charlotte!"

My column last Saturday (yes, I write columns as well as this blog) about walls and the public realm brought in plenty of comment, most -- though not all -- in agreement. Sadler Barnhardt brought up an interesting point, about one small, additional way that the public realm is disrespected:

"Thanks for a good column. That reminds me of a project I have tried to get at least two Observer writers to help me with but no luck: the atrociously dirty street and stop signs around town. Is there money in the budget for this?? If not, why not? What can we do? Have you noticed? They have been this way for years."

He's right. Green mold covers many street signs in town. I'll try to find which department would be in charge of that. My first call will be to Doreen Szymanski of the Charlotte Department of Transportation, who seems to know -- if not everything -- then almost everything. I'll update this later, with a report.

And if you can e-mail me a photo of a particularly grungy street sign, I'll try to post it here.