There’s a push to change the names of dozens of streets in Alexandria that honor Confederate military leaders, but there’s also concern it could lead to major confusion because there are so many of them.
More than 40 streets in Alexandria have the names of Confederate military officials, drawing a straight line to the Confederacy.
“It feels like it’s glorifying them more, and it’s not to say that they’re not an important part of history and they should be erased from history, but I’m not sure that we need to see them on a street name,” resident Deidre Pointbriand said.
“Agree with taking down statues,” resident Eric Johnson said. “I’m not so sure about all street names.”
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Alexandria is fast-tracking a plan to change those street names.
“I mean, they were named as really a form of racial violence,” Mayor Justin Wilson said. “I mean, that’s why they were named.”
Many of the streets’ names were changed after 1950.
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Wilson said new name changes would have to be done slowly – about three per year – for practical purposes.
“If we changed, you know, 50 street names overnight, nobody would have any idea how to get around our city,” Wilson said. “They’d be lost, right. They’d be unable to navigate. And some of these are big streets, too – Van Dorn, Beauregard, Pickett Street.”
On South Lee Street, resident Robert Lash has a possible solution.
“Originally, this street was called Water Street, and I would have no problem going back to the name of the street that it was in colonial days,” he said.
A final vote on the name changes is expected in the spring.
