A street renaming proposal that is all ‘Wells’ and good
Honoring legendary African-American civil rights activist and journalist Ida B. Wells by officially renaming a city street after her is a good idea.
So is changing the name of East Balbo Drive, a four-block stretch just south of downtown named for fascist aviator Italo Balbo.
But combining the two — renaming Balbo Drive for Wells, as two Chicago aldermen want to do — is a lousy idea.
The fate of the proposal from Ald. Sophia King, 4th, and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, is now uncertain since it failed to get an anticipated hearing Wednesday in front of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, but there are three main reasons why the linkage fails.