Laura Glesby Photo
Nathaniel Jones, Gordon Williams, and Calvin Johnson at City Hall.
A pair of New Haveners with deep roots in their communities within the city are on track to see their names on street corners in Newhallville and Cedar Hill.
On Thursday night, The City Services and Environmental Policy Committee of the Board of Alders advanced two proposals to name the corner of Shelton Avenue and Ivy Street after Pastor Martha Green, who pioneered a path for women to become a part of the ministry, and the corner of Rock Street and Grace Street after Betty Thompson, a steadfast advocate for the Cedar Hill neighborhood.
Green, who is currently 96 years old, has been a pastor for 46 years. She founded St. Mary’s Unison Free Will Baptist Church in New Haven in 1973, initially on Grand Avenue. Over the years, the church moved to Goffe Street, and then to Kossuth Street. Soon, it will move to Shelton Avenue — right beside the street corner that residents hope to name after Green.
Nathaniel Jones, Gordon Williams, and Calvin Johnson proposed the Shelton Avenue and Ivy Street naming. Jones said he wants to put up a street sign with Green’s name on it within “the community that she serves and that she walks in … so that she can see it while she’s alive.”
He heralded Green as a pioneer for becoming a female pastor at a time when nearly all her colleagues were men. “Women weren’t accepted in the ministry when she came along,” he said. Green has mentored at least eight other female ministers who have followed in her footsteps.
Paul Bass Photo
Pastor Martha Green.
“She speaks change. She believes everyone can change,” said Johnson.
“We had no problem with getting signatures,” Jones added. They had collected over 280 signatures, when only 250 were required.
Committee member and Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn, whose ward includes the Shelton Avenue and Ivy Street intersection, had submitted the order for the corner’s name to be changed. The order called for Green’s “legacy in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood [to] stand as an official and permanent reminder of integrity, generosity, hope, and dignity.”
“I really don’t know Pastor Green,” Clyburn said, “But just hearing about her — it’s a pleasure to have Green come to our community,” she said.
The committee unanimously voted to recommend the naming of the Newhallville corner after Green.
The alders also heard a proposal to rename the corner of Rock Street and Grace Street in Cedar Hill after longtime neighborhood activist Betty Thompson.
In the nearly two decades that Thompson has resided in Cedar Hill, she has developed a reputation for her persistence in beautifying her neighborhood and keeping it safe.
Thomas Breen Photo
Betty Thompson at an East Rock Community Management Team meeting in 2017.
Thompson has been an active participant of Cedar Hill’s block watch and the East Rock Community Management Team, which includes Cedar Hill. She also co-founded the Friends of East Rock Park (FERP), an organization of neighbors who periodically clean up and plant trees in the park. FERP has also worked in Cedar Hill itself, such as reviving a playground and splash pad at View Street under Thompson’s leadership.
Cedar Hill Alder Anna Festa wrote in her proposal that Thompson is known as the “Mayor of Cedar Hill.”
“Betty Thompson remains a force to be reckoned with and has the will to make things happen. Sometimes whether you like it or not,” Festa wrote, calling Thompson an “amazing community leader.”
In fact, Thompson already has a path nicknamed after her: a recently-cleared trail in East Rock park unofficially called “Betty’s Way.” FERP led the effort to create the trail, which connects the Cedar Hill and East Rock neighborhoods.
Kenya Adams-Martin, Thompson’s daughter who presented the proposal to the committee, echoed Jones’ emphasis on the value of “showing somebody your appreciation while they’re here.” Officially naming a street corner after Thompson while she is still alive would serve as an expression of gratitude, she said.
The petition included a drawing of the corner proposed to be renamed after Thompson.
The alders decided not to take action on the order to name the Cedar Hill corner after Thompson so as to expedite the naming process, sending the matter to the full Board of Alders’ meeting on Monday night. Festa wrote that she is planning a ceremony on Sept. 7 in honor of Thompson and other community members, where she hopes to unveil the corner naming.