Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced last week that the Allston-Brighton branch of the Boston Public Library would be named in honor of the late Boston city councilor Brian Honan, after immense pressure from the city council to forego standard naming procedures.
Up until last Tuesday, Menino was hesitant to name the library after Honan, claiming city buildings are traditionally named by location. The Allston-Brighton branch will join three library branches in the Boston area named after people rather than places, including the Connolly branch, the Fanueil branch and the Kirstein business branch. However, according to a Menino spokesperson, all three were named more than 60 years ago.
Giving into persistent efforts by the city council, Menino told The Boston Globe last Wednesday he would push the naming of the Allston-Brighton library after Honan, though he holds his original reservations.
‘There’s been a reason why no library in the city has been named after an individual,’ Menino said to the Globe. ‘I don’t know what it is, but I’m researching it.’
After the city council unanimously passed a resolution to push the naming in honor of the late councilor last Wednesday, Menino said he would write to library trustees for naming permission.
Honan served as city councilor for the Allston-Brighton district for seven years, and fought to reopen the library after it was closed due to budget cuts in 1981.
City Councilor Maureen Feeney, who worked with Honan, said his name would be appropriate on the library.
‘He was a very great man,’ she said, ‘and I think naming the library would be a suitable way to give back some of what he gave to his community.’
Newly installed councilor Felix Arroyo agreed, although he never served with Honan.
‘I did not have the opportunity to serve with Councilor Honan, but I know that he contributed a lot to the city and deserves to be remembered this way,’ he said.
Councilor Rob Consalvo, who served with Honan while they both vied for city council seats, said he and Honan made numerous stops to fast-food restaurants during their campaign rounds.
‘So, if the library can’t be named after [Councilor Honan], I think he’d be happy to be named after a gym or maybe a restaurant or something,’ Consalvo joked.