The city is taking steps to rename Arlington Street Extension to its original name of Walnut Street.
Earlier this month, Stacey Smith, a fifth generation Chelsea resident and member of Chelsea Black Community, addressed the city council requesting the city make the street name change back to Walnut Street.
Changing back the street name would help highlight some of the long history of the Black population in the city, Smith said. She said that Over the years, Walnut Street became a center of Black life, history, and culture in Chelsea.
“My father came from 13 children, and his father came from 10 to 12 children,” Smith told the city council. “There are hundreds from my family who can say they originated down in the Walnut Street area.”
In a letter to the council, City Manager Fidel Maltez said after the receipt of communications from Smith, the city has had several internal meetings to review the process and feasibility of the request.
“These meetings included our Department of Public Works, Law Department, and our Assessor’s office,” stated Maltez. “Based on our research so far, we do not foresee any issues with moving forward with this request. Over the next few weeks, our office will be finalizing our research and will submit a council order with this renaming request.
“We are very excited to move forward with honoring Ms. Stacey Smith’s hard work.”
District 8 Councilor Calvin Brown thanked the city manager for pushing the name change forward.
“I’m grateful for the work he’s been doing listening to the residents, and I especially want to give a shout out to Ms. Smith, who was bringing a lot of evidence and working diligently to bring about renaming this street to what it was in the past,” said Brown.