Proposal for Beastie Boys Square co-naming rejected by Manhattan community board

The proposal to co-name the intersection of Ludlow and Rivington in New York's Lower East Side "Beastie Boys Square" was denied yesterday by a Manhattan community board. Brooklyn resident LeRoy McCarthy had chosen the intersection because the corner is featured on the cover of the hip-hop trio's groundbreaking 1989 album, Paul's Boutique, and began his proposal late last year.

At his last community board meeting, the panel requested that McCarthy collect more signatures before they would vote. Instead of voting in February, as originally planned, the board voted yesterday 24 to 1 against the proposal, which prevents McCarthy from refilling his application for at least another five years, DNAInfo reported.

The board's chairwoman Gigi Li said the board voted early because it thought McCarthy's proposal would never meet the guidelines. "My decision was based on the fact that it did not meet the criteria and the fact that previously our most recent group of co-namings held each application to the high standard of meeting every single criteria we set out for co-namings," she told DNAInfo.

The board's district manager, Susan Stetzer, alerted McCarthy via email about the board's decision so that "you not put in many hours of work and then have the board deny in February."

McCarthy told DNAInfo that he was surprised by the abrupt decision. "Once again I was blindsided and not given the opportunity to present the full material they [CB3] requested."

The one board member, Chad Marlow, who voted in favor of the co-naming said his he was unpleased with how the board handled the situation. "The wise thing and fair thing to have been done would be to let him return to the committee," Marlow said."This isn't about the Beastie Boys," he added. "It is about showing respect for the community."

This is now the second time McCarthy, a film and television scout, has been rejected by the city for a street naming. Last year, his proposal to name a street in Clinton Hill after rapper Biggie Smalls was rejected. He had hoped to honor hip-hop's roots in New York by co-naming a street in every borough after a hip-hop act.

The last we heard, McCarthy had been scouting a Wu-Tang spot in the Park Hill neighborhood of their native Staten Island. We are unsure of whether the board's recent decision will deter McCarthy from continuing to pursue his mission.

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