Brian Sharp

@SharpRoc

The city received more than 300 nominations for what to name a new green space and street at Midtown

Monday was the deadline for submissions

Gone are the days when you might meet at the Clock of Nations in Midtown Plaza. But maybe one day soon we could gather at Tweedledee Plaza — just off Tweedledum Street.

Or drive into the old Midtown site on Garbage Plate Alley and head over to Rattlesnake Pete Place. Or maybe not.

The city received more than 300 nominations for what to name a new green space and street at the Midtown redevelopment site. Some are more serious than others — or at least being more seriously considered.

"To me these were just the fun, creative ones," said city spokeswoman Chris Christopher, who is part of an internal cross-departmental City Hall committee charged with narrowing the list of suggested finalists. "Most people wanted us to go with some connection to the Midtown site. And by vast majority, I mean far and away there were Midtown suggestions."

Monday was the deadline for submissions. The to-be-named new street runs opposite the Liberty Pole, and the open space runs from South Clinton Avenue near the Windstream building to the new street. The city asked that suggested names be specific to the street and plaza, relate to the city or its history and, per city code, not be of a living person or someone who died within the past year. The committee plans to send its suggested finalists to the city's Planning Commission and City Council in time for their May meetings.

Among the Midtown-themed suggestions were references to the Clock of Nations, the monorail, the Manhattan Restaurant, Magic Mountain, McCurdy's, Forman's and Midtown architect Victor Gruen. The city declined to release the full list of nominations or further detail the nominees that might be in the running. The internal committee met for the first time this week.

But Christopher did offer a few more of the creative ideas: Feels So Good Street (paying homage to Chuck Mangione), Meet-Me-At-The-Lane (reflecting on the old Midtown slogan) and Young Lion Way (a reference to Rochester once being known as the Young Lion of the East).

Nominations also recognized some of Rochester's most famous historic figures, including Nathaniel Rochester, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Cab Calloway, Sam Patch, Emma Goldman, Austin Steward, Howard Hansen, Albert Stone and Martha Matilda Harper.

Someone thought the block-long street in center city Rochester might resemble the most famous street in Paris, if not the world, and thus offered Champs-Élysées, according to the city.

Others thought it might better be named for their child — or their pet.

BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/sharproc