Needed: rampant speculation

[talentedmrraber]

What factors contribute to the presence and density of honorary street and corner names in American cities

Comments

[jigsawjazz]

Politics.

You know, they almost renamed 16th St. in DC Ronald Reagan Blvd.?

[anotherthink]

yes.

[talentedmrraber]

Actually I've met those artists. They dropped by school one day to talk about Nietzsche.

[joaniechachi]

Politics and political know-how/connections accompanied by intense emotion and/or sense of duty/loyalty/entitlement.

[joaniechachi]

Based on your edit? Inflated sense of self-importance on the part of those getting the honorary name instated. (Not so different from my original answer; mostly more specific.)

[talentedmrraber]

But the honorary names often honor people who are already dead.

[joaniechachi]

I know that. The people who are working to get the dead honored get to feel really special about themselves if they get an honorary street name. "I did all this work. I'm sure [dead dude] would feel really special and appreciate me sooooooooo much!" and so forth. There is a street in St. Paul that has a section honorarily named for an old man who sold coal and shoe polish from a shack by the highway. I can only imagine that someone thought they were doing something the deceased deserved and that they could take great pride in having accomplished this.

[slartucker]

banality?