It’s Probably Best To Keep Denis Hamill Way Far Away From Forest Hills*

On Being Denis Hamill: 1) pick the low-hanging fruit; 2) cause a big stir with that fruit; 3) bask in the smug self-righteousness said fruit bears:

The best part about the Corbin Place uproar is that there is uproar.

On the evening of Feb. 26, I sat in the last row of an assembly room in Kingsborough Community College where Community Board 15 held a public hearing about changing the street name of Corbin Place. About 100 people showed up from the snowy streets, more than most City Council meetings.

It was democracy at its best.

. . .

In the middle of the meeting Leonard Benardo — who with his wife, Jennifer Weiss, wrote “Brooklyn by Name,” which gives the history of most street names in Brooklyn — asked me, “What are we gonna do, rename the 70 streets in Brooklyn named after slaveholders?”

“Why not,” I asked.

I said that because of his book, which inspired my column, a whole neighborhood was discussing and debating local history. And how could that ever be a bad thing? If Nostrand Ave., Vanderbilt Ave., and Lott St. are named for slaveholders, shouldn’t the citizens who live on those streets or in their surrounding neighborhoods have a chance to debate whether that’s a proper name to honor on a street sign?

If history is revised, shouldn’t street signs also be revised? Even if people have to be mildly inconvenienced by having their addresses altered on house deeds, driver’s licenses, and stationery?

Why not turn all the soil in a new century and see what we find?

*Because you thought Austin Street was named for Stephen F.? Guess again!