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“When there are inconsistencies in the spelling of different roads, it can lead to confusion when we’re dispatching emergency personnel,” Mayor Noam Bramson said at the City Council meeting Tuesday night.
New Rochelle's EMS Coordinator Barry Nechis discovered multiple streets with various spellings as recorded by the fire and police department map, county 911, USPS, street signs and other databases.
These inconsistencies are a not only a nuisance for delivery services, they are also a serious safety problem for emergency response personnel, he said.
A survey was created and sent to property owners on the affected streets to get feedback on the preferred names. The city received 163 surveys online or by mail out of 289 sent to properties around New Rochelle.
Because New Rochelle police, fire and EMS dispatchers have become more reliant on digital information from the 911 system street name, inconsistencies can prevent or delay emergency responses, Nechis said.
For instance, on the five block-long street of Robert Drive, Robert Drive North and Robert Drive South, 23 out of 42 homes responded with surveys.
“We have lived here since 1958 and have always referred to the address as 57 Robert Drive. Forty years ago, an ambulance driver was confused and went to the wrong address when my uncle had a heart attack. He died. I think the north and south designations are unnecessary,” one of the homeowners responded,
Council member Barry Fertel lives on Meadowood Path, which is sometimes also spelled Meadowwood Path. He asked Nechis whether the new name designations would impact GPS programs or mapping websites. Nechis says all mapping for GPS comes from the city and would be updated to popular sites such as GoogleMaps for corrections.
The City Council voted to officially amend the names of the following streets:
• Robert Drive versus Robert Drive North and Robert Drive South: Robert Drive will eliminate “North” and “South” from the official city name. • Meadowwood Path and Meadowood Path will be only Meadowood Path. • Hayhurst Drive, Road or Street will be only Hayhurst Road. • Renya versus Reyna Lane will be only Reyna Lane. • Park Ridge Avenue and Parkridge Avenue will be only Park Ridge Avenue. • Hillandale Drive and Hillanddale Drive will be only Hillandale Drive. • Glenorchy Place and Glenorchy Road will be only Glenorchy Place. • Argyle Avenue and Argyll Avenue will be only Argyll Avenue. • Madeleine Avenue and Madeline Avenue will be only Madeleine Avenue. • Wood Hollow Lane and Woodhollow Lane will be only Wood Hollow Lane. • Sun Haven Drive and Sunhaven Drive will be only Sun Haven Drive. • Bellview Place and Belleview Place will be only Belleview Place. • Crestview Street and Crestview Place will be only Crestview Street. • Sprague Road and Sprague Avenue will be only Sprague Avenue. • The Boulevard East and Boulevard East will drop “the” from it’s name. • In the case of Portman Road and Portman Place, the section of the road off Potter Avenue will be changed to Portman Place. • In the case of Van Guilder Avenue and Guion Place, the section of Van Guilder Avenue between Guion Place and Division Street will become an extension to Guion Place. • In the case of Baraud Road, Baraud Road North and Baraud Road South, the road will be Baraud Road North from Wilmot Road northward and Baraud Road South from Wilmot Road southward. • In the case of Congress Street and Congress Place, the dogleg section that runs west off of Congress Street will be renamed Congress Place. • For Harbor Lane, Harbor Lane West and Neptune Island Road, the section west of the Glen Island approach road will officially be Harbor Lane West. • At 200 Petersville Road and Frederick B. Powers Square, Palmer Center will be renumbered with a Palmer Avenue address; Petersville Road officially ends at Lynette Street; and Powers Square will be made a historical intersection (no longer active).
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