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Proposal to rename Elkton Road tabled by council

Newark mayor seeks to rebrand the avenue as South Main Street to attract more businesses to downtown

Published: Monday, October 31, 2011

Updated: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 04:11

Elkton Road

Hanan Zatloff

Some city officials believe renaming the road would cause confusion for residents and visitors.

A proposal to rename a portion of Elkton Road as South Main Street was tabled after mixed reactions during last week's city council meeting.

Newark Mayor Vance A. Funk III proposed renaming the street as far as Casho Mill Road during the summer to bring more businesses into the downtown Newark area on Elkton Road.

"Main Street, for whatever reason, is the place," Funk said. "There are two vacancies on that whole stretch of Main Street, out of about 140 locations."

However, the mayor withdrew his proposal during the last city council meeting after many councilmen and some residents voiced their concerns.

Maureen Feeney Roser, assistant director of the city's planning and development department, said members of the Downtown Newark Partnership have been seeking to better incorporate the downtown area on Elkton Road since city council expanded it in 2007.

"We believe that the name change would help us better market the commercial space on Elkton Road as many businesses on our targeted business list—those who we have been trying to pursue—have said that they would only consider opening a location in downtown Newark if it were on Main Street," Roser said.

She said many partnership members also think the name change would help promote the public's perception of downtown area on Elkton Road.

District 5 Councilman Ezra Temko said he was concerned with the name change because he believed it would cause confusion for local residents.

"If you are at the end of East Main Street and someone is telling you to go onto Main Street, but you can see that you can take a left onto [South] Main Street or keep going straight onto [West] Main Street," Temko said.

Temko said if the name was approved, West Main Street would also need to be renamed.

District 3 Councilman Doug Tuttle said he believes the renaming of Elkton Road has historical significance and should be valued.

Tuttle also said his constituents have shown more concern about the renaming of Elkton Road than any other topic the council has discussed in the past month.

City council recently approved a 14.5 percent increase of city water rates, which was also considered by many residents to be an unfavorable decision.

"I have heard more outcry about this issue than about even the increased water rates," Tuttle said.

District 2 Councilman Jerry Clifton said he thinks there are several benefits to a name change, but it should be done in a way that will not affect the residents who live further down Elkton Road.

"There's a lot in a name, and I think to have South Main Street to Park [Place], which will encompass the business district and leave the residents alone that need to change licenses, car registration, insurance and a litany of things, makes sense from a business development standpoint," Clifton said.

  

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4 comments

Anonymous
Fri Nov 4 2011 02:48
How about remaining Elkton road "corruption ave" "old masonic street" "police state ave" or how about "ticket the students to death blvd". Whatever you clowns name it at least be honest...
Anonymous
Thu Nov 3 2011 16:11
It's already confusing for people to deal with an East Main and a West Main. Add a South Main and you've got people wondering where the hell "North Main" is. I just don't think change the name will work- Elkton Road is progressively getting nicer and I think that will promote the success more than any name change would do.
Anonymous
Wed Nov 2 2011 15:51
Well said Matthew. To take things a step further, let's take a step back and see if the current East Main Street Newark with the influx of many new restaurants and chains and stores works first. I have heard that many of the smaller businesses are feeling the crunch from the influx of the new and large franchises and corporate stores opening. This may and probably will lead to a number of them closing, which will, in turn, open up vacancies on East Main Street. The point being, in my opinion, things are already potentially stretched too thin unless population increases steadily. Adding more storefronts and more or less inventing a new street to compete with what is already a saturated Main Street will only stretch things further which will have the potential to undo all the progress that has been made on the current East Main Street. Let's leave well enough alone... for now at least.
Matthew Galenas
Wed Nov 2 2011 10:04
"A road by any other name..."

I hate to break it to the mayor, but when businesses said they would only locate in Newark if the location was on Main Street, they did not mean they wanted half the city to be on "Main Street". Slapping a new name on a street is not going to automatically bring in hoards of new businesses. Despite the stereotype of the lazy business majors at this school, I am sure they are smart enough not to fall for something like that.

Secondly, the same move is not going to improve the way the public views "Elkton Road." Hint: the only way to do that is to actually improve the area in some tangible way (which is already being done)!

Finally, during my time so far as a civil engineering major and intern at PennDOT, if there is one thing I have learned about transportation design, it is that simplicity is your best friend. The end of East Main Street is already a very complicated intersection, especially for those not familiar with the area. Add a South Main Street to the East Main Street and West Main Street already in place and you end up with a very confusing roadway system.

Let's leave the names of Newark's streets alone and save everyone a lot of time, money, and headaches.





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