In street namings, officials bestow bouquets destined to wilt

It’s a step forward for Miami Beach that the city has just voted to co-name streets for women rather than just men, as had been the practice. Everyone should be eligible, not just one sex.

On the other hand, naming public assets for women raises the same dangers as in brandings for men or companies: once a name is bestowed, the donor is forever tied to an honoree whose reputation might reverse from positive to negative, perhaps through no one’s fault.

Think of the brouhahas over assets named for or depicting anyone linked to the Confederacy or slavery or Latin heads of state who fall into disfavor. Names and images have been expunged nationally to fanfare, just as names of those now in favor may replace them. 

The more names we bestow as public gestures, the greater the likelihood that some will be publicly removed as governments offer mea culpas.

Yes, it has happened here, and with street names. 

In 2005, Major League Baseball star Jose Canseco’s name was removed from a local street after arrests for offenses ranging from illegal possession of a firearm and steroids to aggravated battery. No conviction was required to get Miami-Dade County to remove the name it had bestowed – it was purely a matter of reputation.

“I’m not a fan of naming streets after people who are alive,” county Commissioner Javier Souto said at the time. “This is an example of what can go wrong.”

We agree and have said so for some time: putting the name of any living person or any active entity on a public street or building or any community asset bears that danger every day.

Mr. Canseco was not a jailbird. But between the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County we have seen people whose names adorned streets wind up behind bars, including a once-prominent banking CEO. Their heralded reputations were spotless until they weren’t.   

It’s not just people. Think about FTX Arena, the home of the Miami Heat. At least the county was paid something for the fiasco when FTX went down in flames and burned the county’s reputation. Now the building is the Kaseya Center, for $117 million and prayers that Kaseya’s reputation remains spotless for the next 16 years.

Dangers even exist for historical figures. There have been efforts to remove Thomas Jefferson’s name from public sites because he was a slaveholder. The University of Virginia’s student newspaper editorialized seeking to remove his name from campus. Others face similar efforts. Jefferson’s reputation as a Founding Father and president glowed until public moods changed.

But the danger of a shifting mood forcing removal of a name on a public site is especially great if the person or entity is still active. They seem perfect community ambassadors today, but there is no way to predict what might blemish the image tomorrow, even if the honorees are blameless.

Just six years ago, in fact, Florida International University sought to rescind the naming of its main campus for former president Modesto Maidique, an honor that trustees bestowed with fanfare when he ended his 23-year presidency. It seems Dr. Maidique was critical of FIU’s more recent management and vision, a viewpoint he had every right to espouse. But nobody likes critics, so the name was up in the air. It remains on the campus today.

Miami Beach’s first new women honorees chosen for streets – to join the late Art Deco pioneer Barbara Capitman – are Beach resident and Latin music icon Gloria Estefan and local museum founder and operator Naomi Wilzig. 

Those nominations now go to the county for approval, and county commissioners approve co-designations of roadways regularly.

One of the few things the county requires in namings of roads, facilities and properties is that the application state whether the person being honored still lives, a rule passed in 2019 at the request of then-commissioners Joe Martinez and Sen. Souto – the man who was “not a fan” of naming assets for living persons who might still have their reputations sullied.

So, what possible dangers could lurk regarding two famed Miami Beach women?

It’s highly unlikely that globally famed Cuban American singer Ms. Estefan would commit the ultimate sin of supporting the Cuban Communist regime, so she seems safe.

As for Ms. Wilzig, she founded and operates the World Erotic Art Museum, where she exhibits her own portraits of the human nude body. That seems entirely safe in an art-oriented Miami Beach.

How, on the other hand, would that naming play in Tallahassee, where state government, and particularly the governor, are determined that no state funds may support arts that in any way are linked to anything they might interpret as sexual. We know the nude human body may be seen that way, no matter its artistic merit. Could that shut off the tap to some state funds for the city? Stay tuned.

Were it up to Miami Today, the current namings in the pipeline would be the last for living persons. 

Governments, however, see such namings as delivering bouquets to honorees while their supporters are voters and potential donors.

The county two years ago waived its own rule that “the naming, renaming, or designation of a county road, facility, or property may not be for any elected official currently serving or having served in any elected office within the past five years” to put the name of recently term-limited commissioner Dennis Moss on the South Dade Cultural Arts Center.

“This,” explained Commissioner Kionne McGhee, “is to give individuals their flowers while they are still here to remind them how much we appreciate them.” The value of those naming-right flowers was in the millions, a lot of appreciation indeed with no worry at all about the future.

One thing seems certain: Mr. Canseco’s name will not be the last in this county to be removed.