NYC Council passes bill to name streets for slain cop Wilbert Mora, lawmaker Al Vann, shooting victim Kristal Bayron-Nieves
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A police officer killed in the line of duty, an influential Black lawmaker, a relentless labor leader and a Burger King cashier killed in an East Harlem shooting are among the honorees in a street-naming bill that passed the City Council on Thursday.
The legislation, passed by a 47-0 vote, came under scrutiny for its inclusion of Elijah Muhammad, the controversial late leader of the Nation of Islam, who would be honored with a street name in Harlem.
But the vast majority of the honorees did not attract debate.
They included Wilbert Mora, a cop killed in a Harlem apartment shootout; Eddie Kay, a charismatic, gravel-voiced union official; and Kristal Bayron-Nieves, an admired cashier killed during a late shift at the Burger King at Lexington Ave. and E. 116th St. in Manhattan. All three died last winter.
The legislation would also name a Jamaica, Queens, block for Clifford Glover, the 10-year-old Black boy who was shot and killed by a white police officer in 1973. The intersection of 112th Road and Guy R. Brewer Blvd. would become Clifford Glover Road.
With Mayor Adams’ signature, the intersection of Keap St. and S. Third St. in Williamsburg would be named Detective Wilbert Mora St. The crossing of Ave. N and E. 19th St. in Midwood, Brooklyn, would become Eddie Kay Way. Kristal Nieves Way would mark the block where the fast-food worker died.
Albert Vann, a trailblazing Black political leader who died in July, would be honored at the intersection of MacDonough St. and Stuyvesant Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. That spot would become Hon. Dr. Albert Vann Way.
During the vote Thursday, Councilman Chi Osse, a Brooklyn Democrat, described Vann as a “political giant.”
“This is a body that knows all about Dr. Vann’s commitments and investments in his home of Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights and in this city,” Osse said. “May all who walk our streets look up and see the name of our hometown hero: Al Vann, pioneer of political Black Brooklyn.”
