Her son’s blood was spilled on a Hell’s Kitchen street. Now the grieving mom wants it renamed in his honor.
Ena Griffin is fighting for the city to name part of West 56th Street after Teddy Beckles, 19, who was stabbed to death during a brawl outside Independence High School in September.
The teen was killed in a fight outside the school, between Ninth and 10th avenues, when one student plunged a knife in his chest.
“Teddy gave his life to this neighborhood. He grew up in this neighborhood,” said Griffin, 41, of The Bronx. “I feel the honor is due to him. This boy lost his life in the street.”
But Griffin is facing a community board that discourages honorary street signs, as well as critics who say renaming city property has become an epidemic.
“It should be a rare honor, and these streets should be named after someone our children should know, not [merely] anyone who was involved in a tragedy,” said Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens).
The City Council pushed through 73 honorary street names this year, up from 56 in 2011 and 67 in 2010.
Many are named after fallen police officers, firefighters and local activists. Hundreds are named for victims of 9/11. One memorializes Naeisha Pearson, a 10-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet in The Bronx.
The co-naming process starts at community boards before being rubber-stamped by the council and the mayor. But even boldfaced names can stoke a neighborhood quarrel.
It took Morningside Heights a year to greenlight “George Carlin Way” — named for the comedian who grew up on West 121st Street — last month.
Two years ago, Beckles was charged with assault for bashing an 18-year-old stranger over the head with a baseball bat just one block from where he was fatally stabbed.