City Council Approves Sean Bell Street

A stretch of Liverpool Street will become Sean Bell Way.

A street in Queens will be named after Sean Bell, an unarmed man who was fatally gunned down by police the day before his wedding in 2006.
    
The City Council passed the bill Monday. It will rename a three-block stretch of Liverpool Street Sean Bell Way.

At a press conference this morning, Bloomberg told reporters, "I have said that when a bill comes before me listing a lot of names, I will sign the bill.
    
Bell was killed outside a strip club in 2006 while leaving his bachelor party on what would have been his wedding day. A judge acquitted three police officers in 2008.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who led protests after the police officers were acquitted, also spearheaded efforts to have Bell's name memorialized.

"This has something to do with our community embracing and using as example a young man that was on his way to doing what was right and his community rallied around him. That's what streets are named for," said Sharpton during a meeting in Harlem Saturday. 
    
Bell's father had also been pushing for the street renaming and his family attended the council hearing today.  

But the move was met with some resistance.  Vallone, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Public Safety Committee, argues that the Council is not following new rules which require an individual in question to be known for "exemplary acts or achievements which reflect positively on the city."

Vallone said no matter the tragedy, it did not require a street renaming.

James Oddo (R-Staten Island) and Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) had voiced opposition, as well.
     
Today's  bill included more than 60 other renamings, including Sugar Ray Robinson Way in Manhattan.
    
A street in Brooklyn and another in the Bronx will be named after people who died in the 2001 World Trade Center attack.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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