Editor: A recent letter to the Sun Gazette urged renaming Taney Avenue in Alexandria because it appears to be named for Chief Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision. [“Remove Notorious Justice’s Name from Street,” Letter March 24].
That would be a needless waste of taxpayer money.
The street doesn’t bear Chief Justice Taney’s first name, and most people traveling the street probably have no idea who Chief Justice Taney was, much less that the street is named for him. So rather than renaming the street, it could simply be designated as honoring a different Taney: the diplomat James B. Taney, who served as U.S. Consul in Belfast from 1893-96.
Doing that rather than renaming the street would save the hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money it costs to rename a street and change maps and public records. It also would save residents and the Postal Service the hassle of changing residents’ street addresses to a new name.
Hans Bader, Arlington