DC Residents Look to Rename Pennsylvania Avenue

Taxation without representation irks city's 600,000 residents
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2011 5:54 PM CST
DC Residents Look to Rename Pennsylvania Avenue
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2010 file photo, people wait in line in front of the Supreme Court in Washington. The capital is a city of magnificent front entrances that people can't enter.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Some residents of Washington, DC, are proposing that Pennsylvania Avenue—home of the White House and possibly the most famous street in the nation—get a name change. The proposed alternatives? Unconstitutional Avenue, No Vote Street, and Statehood Way are among the suggestions, the AP reports. In case you haven't guessed, the new names call attention to the fact that the district lacks proper representation in Congress.

Councilman Michael Brown is pushing the move, which would be ceremonial—new sign names would go up under the the traditional "Pennsylvania Avenue" signs. Brown's push may be for naught, though: DC may not have a voting representative on Capitol Hill, but Congress can strike down any city law—and "Unconstitutional Avenue" could be a tough sell.
(More Pennsylvania Avenue stories.)

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