How does it happen?

Do you ever wonder, as you drive down the streets of Mobile, who is the person in charge of naming streets. As west Mobile continues to grow, how exactly does the next Bloodgood St. or Lucky Way come to be? I have always wanted to know exactly how something that will be around for possibly hundreds of years get a name. Is it a serious process involving think tanks and large bi-partisan committees? Do Connie Hudson, Sam Jones and Uncle Henry all gather in a corner office of the giant downtown robot and throw #2 pencils in the ceiling until something sticks? Is there a master list written on an old legal pad hidden away in the dusty old desk drawer of some city planner? This is important stuff folks.

A quick search of existing streets around Mobile suggest that naming a street might not be as ceremonial or creative as you may think. Apparently the key is to just add to one of the current themes. Mobile and themes, like that doesn't go together like peanut butter and nanner samidges. AhHa! you are starting to put it together in your head right now.

When all else fails, they name it after someone. This can cause confusion to visitors who might overhear a conversation down at the Dew Drop Inn...."I passed out on Ann last night"...."You left me standing on Catherine yesterday"....."I saw her running up and down Short Earl this morning"

They also like to go with a historical theme and we end up with:
Camelot
Celtic
Lancelot
Gallahad

Sometimes they just phone it in with:
Golden
Silver
Green
Emerald

Whats better than just going with a name that has nothing to do with Mobile:
Texas
Washington
Brazil
Cuba
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Virginia
Miami
Carolina
Georgia
Maryland
New Jersey
Delaware

Bird Ville pays respect to all of our feathered friends and they even threw in a "Roach" for good measure. Some streets make perfectly good sense like Old Shell, Airport, Government and Broad. There are more running themes in Mobile, but none can compare to just throwing out something that relates to a tree. We have the pine, oak, maple, gum, cherry, spruce, pecan, magnolia, holly, elm, palm, cedar, plum, persimmon and even an orchard.

So what did I learn from this 5 minutes of research? You probably don't need a lot of experience to be Dir. of street names.

Until next time.......pick me up on Chinquapin St.