Confederate Road Renaming Funds Provided In Alexandria Budget

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Initial funding to start the Confederate road renaming process was provided in the City of Alexandria budget approved last week.

The $60,000 is allocated under the city's Transportation and Environmental Services department budget. The funding is intended to replace signage for streets named after Confederate officials or military.

In January, Mayor Justin Wilson proposed a process for renaming streets with names associated with the Confederacy. According to the city, many streets with Confederate names had been named through a 1953 ordinance seeking Confederate military leader names for north-south running streets.

But today, Wilson said those street names "have no place in 2023."

Under the proposed process, City Council's City Naming Committee is asked to schedule three street renamings per year starting in 2023. The committee, made up of Councilmembers John Taylor Chapman, Sarah Bagley and Alyia Gaskins, would make a recommendation to the full City Council annually on new street names.

The first discussion on three streets prioritized for renaming in 2023 is expected in September, and a City Council decision could come in November.

In addition to the committee's work, the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission is tasked with finding locations and people worth recognizing through street names — particularly minority groups and women.

According to a city budget memo, the $60,000 in the budget would cover replacing signage on a larger street such as Beauregard Street, Van Dorn Street or Pickett Street, as well as two smaller streets per year. Labor costs would be covered within the current Transportation & Environmental Services workload.

To rename 41 streets associated with the Confederacy, it would cost $164,000 for manufacturing new signage. The city is looking into the name origins of another 27 streets that may be named for Confederate military or political figures.

One of Alexandria's roadways previously bearing a Confederate name — Jefferson Davis Highway — was renamed Richmond Highway at the beginning of 2019.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, released a statement in support of the city's action. The organization has supported other efforts to remove mentions of the Confederacy in Virginia and elsewhere.

"We welcome efforts by the city of Alexandria to end the honoring of racist traitors in its public spaces and urge other cities nationwide to follow suit," said Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for CAIR.

If street names do change, the city budget memo said property owners would not need to update their deeds with the Clerk of Circuit court when street addresses change.

Residents can follow Confederate Street Renaming updates on the city's web page.