TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – There’s a push to honor former President Barack Obama in New York City.
A petition to name part of Fifth Street between 56th and 57th Streets “President Barack H. Obama Avenue” is gaining momentum on the website MoveOn.org. As early as Wednesday morning, more than 86,000 signatures had been collected. By noon, over 100,000 signatures had been collected.
The Move.org petition asking the city of New York to rename a portion of Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower after former President Barack Obama.
“The City of Los Angeles recently honored former President Barack Obama by renaming a stretch of the 134 Freeway near Downtown L.A. in his honor,” the online petition reads, “We request the New York City Mayor and City Council do the same by renaming a block of Fifth Avenue after the former president whose many accomplishments include: saving our nation from the Great Recession; serving two completely scandal-free terms in office; and taking out Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind September 11th, which killed over 3,000 New Yorkers.”
The woman behind the petition, Elizabeth Rowin said the petition started as a joke last year.
“I saw a comedian joke about how it would make Trump so mad if it was named after former President Obama and thought why not,” Rowin told Newsweek.
Once the petition gained more traction, Rowin decided to contact the New York City Council and some members expressed interest in supporting her cause.
But, according to Newsweek, the petition fails to meet one major requirement for co-naming a street–the honoree must be deceased for at least two years prior to the petition in order to co-name a street after him or her.
“I am sure the conditions can be changed,” Rowin said. “There are two streets in L.A. named after former President Obama.”
“These laws are arbitrary and can be worked around,” she added.
