Objections raised on the process for giving Little River Turnpike an honorary name
About a dozen people showed up at a meeting on April 17 to discuss a proposal to bestow an honorary name on Little River Turnpike to honor the Korean-American community.
An honorary name is just that – it won’t be an official name recognized by the post office and no one’s address would change.
The meeting, held at American Legion Post 1976, was convened by a group called Annandale United.
Their main complaints were about Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez’s process for soliciting feedback on the proposal.
The idea for the honorary name was presented to Jimenez last fall by the local Korean business community led by Steve Lee. Jimenez held two community meetings on the proposal, in January and February.
He also invited residents to fill out a survey asking whether they support the honorary name and to indicate what that name should be. It listed several options, such as Gangnam Street and Koreatown. The results of the survey have not yet been announced.
Related story: Annandale residents express their views on renaming Little River Turnpike
Jimenez publicized the meetings and survey in the Mason Matters newsletter and on his social media accounts.
At the meeting, several people complained that many Annandale residents didn’t know about the survey because it wasn’t widely distributed to community groups and HOAs.
They said Annandale residents who live in the Heritage Drive and Americana Drive areas in the Braddock District didn’t know about it because they don’t receive the Mason District newsletter. Meanwhile, they said Mason District residents who live in Bailey’s Crossroads and Lincolnia did have a chance to vote on it.
“A lot of people are unhappy,” said Joe Nam Do, who facilitated the meeting. “If people don’t know about it and can’t vote on it, it is unfair.”
Do and Joseph McCauley were the only people at the meeting who acknowledged being associated with Annandale United. “People were afraid to come or give their names because they don’t want to antagonize the Mason supervisor,” Do said.
Susan Jollie, a community association president, said that when she notified residents of her Annandale neighborhood, “people were negative on the concept. People from other ethnic groups were not happy with this. The process was not good.”
McCauley, a retired realtor, said he circulated a petition to residents of his neighborhood and to non-Korean businesses along Little River Turnpike. When he submitted it to the supervisor’s office, it was not accepted. The deadline for responding had passed.
The petition, which McCauley also posted online, says, “We believe the historic name of Little River Turnpike should be the only street name that accurately describes our community.”
“We oppose honorarily re-naming Little River Turnpike and installing signage identifying Annandale as ‘Koreatown’ or ‘Gangnam Street,” the petition states. “This commercial branding does not accurately reflect the diverse population of Annandale. It is unfair to all other residents and business owners. The image discourages investment. We do not believe Fairfax County should endorse an image of Annandale that prefers one ethnic or cultural group over all others who have lived and worked along Little River Turnpike since 1802.”
Related story: They built the road they would be forced to walk: a brief history of Little River Turnpike
“I love history. I don’t want to see it disturbed, McCauley said. “Little River Turnpike was the first turnpike authorized by the federal government.”
He suggested giving an honorary name to a smaller road in Annandale or putting up a historic marker, rather than renaming Little River Turnpike.
Do said when he reached out to leaders of the Hispanic community, they opposed having Annandale identified as Koreatown. “They wanted their own honorary name.”
Do, along with several other Annandale residents, questioned why “the Koreans should be elevated above everyone else.”
Someone else at the meeting said it was unfair to have people vote on an honorary name when there hasn’t been any decision on how many street signs there would be, where they would be located, and what they would look like.
Another attendee noted that many owners of Korean businesses in Annandale don’t live in the community.
Related story: Annandale residents oppose an honorary name for Little River Turnpike
A three-and-a-half-page letter sent to Jimenez on March 25, and signed by McCauley, Do, and two other people with business interests in Annandale, states: “Giving exclusive recognition to one ethnic group ignores the contributions of countless other residents and business owners who rightly believe they have contributed as much to Annandale. For most residents, the only acceptable image of Annandale is a community that welcomes all persons and businesses regardless of racial or ethnic background.”
The letter, which also cites the concerns about an inadequate community engagement process, states: “Everyone who lives or does business in Annandale has a financial interest in deciding how the community will be portrayed. Residential and business property values could be negatively impacted by the inaccurate perception that Annandale’s restaurants and businesses cater only to those seeking Korean food or services.”
According to the letter, “The prospects for investment in the redevelopment of Annandale’s Central Business District depend on Annandale being viewed as a venue offering a wide variety of eating, entertainment, and shopping experiences.”
This is not the first time a name change has been proposed for Little River Turnpike. In 1958, Beverly Coleman tried – and failed – to get the road renamed for his grandfather, Confederate soldier Col. John Singleton Mosby.
Then in 1979, Route 50 in Loudoun County was renamed for Mosby. In 2021, as part of an effort to get rid of Confederate names, Loudoun changed the name of the John Mosby Highway to Little River Turnpike.
21 responses to “Objections raised on the process for giving Little River Turnpike an honorary name”
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Dont change that name !! …
The road has a name, Little River Turnpike. Just leave it alone. There must be other ways of wasting people’s time and money. Aren’t there bigger things to worry about?
This would not waste any of your time or money. It would be funded by Korean businesspeople and would not take any of your time. If you have other objections, please voice them. There are some good reasons not to do this. These are not really good reasons since it’s not your time or $.
Seems the entire process lacked fairness, not giving people an opportunity to oppose it, whatsoever. That’s the real problem here, the lack of due process. Was that intentional? I think it’s safe to say that only a handful of people would be for this change.
There’s also the distinct possibility that only a handful of people are against it. It also really isn’t a change, rather an embellishment that celebrates diversity. To appease all, I would propose a sign similar to a historical plaque that is mounted on a pole to be installed by the side of the road along the Turnpike.
Agree, it is that. An Honorary Name is a sign of respect and an acknowledgement only.
Pretty clear that people have had a lot of opportunity to oppose this…multiple meetings, online venting, additional meetings. If you don’t like it, well, I guess we all know that, right? Also, you are HERE opposing it, so that also counts as an opportunity.
I, for one, support the honorary renaming (co-naming?) of a section of the road because it gives a small amount of deserved recognition for the efforts of Korean business people to keep Annandale from sliding into nothingness in the 80s and 90s. But it is just my opinion, and my guess is that the hundreds of opposition voices being heard will overwhelm a reasonable, innocuous good-faith effort at recognition. So much hand-wringing over something so small…
The instant I saw your name, James, I knew I’d disagree with every word you said. Thank you for being a sure thing.
I think it’s a good learning opportunity to be intentional and transparent with any engagement process. Sharing to all groups what’s going on, what’s not a part of this effort and even a page on the Mason BOS saying and a FAQ is the bare minimum.
Jose- Thank you for being fair and reasonable. A fair democratic process matters. Democracy does die in the dark. Especially now.
I agree with you..
By (Loudoun) “changing the name of 50 from Mosb to Little River Turnpike” — they should more accurately say “changing BACK to Little River Turnpike”. It was LRT originally. And what is now called Route 236 was originally Route 50 until the early 1930s. LRT is the old and original name. Then came Route 50 (today re-numbered “236”).
That’s why present day Route 50 makes a 90 degree turn, and Route 236 ends, at Kamp Washington in Fairfax City. Route 50 ran straight from Alexandria to the Little River, in Aldie, along the Little River Turnpike. A far less important and later road was today’s Fairfax Blvd, and it was Route 236. The Route numbers were swapped.
Heinz Field will always be called Heinz Field even tho its named something else now. Get the point? Stop whining and focus on your rights and retirement money vanishing.
SCG- We are holding a planning meeting for the largest event in Annandale where we raise tens of thousands of dollars for our schools and local youth. How about you use your gigantic brain to help us with getting sponsors, managing logistics, obtaining permits, etc. These whiners just love to whine. But you don’t whine, correct? You’re not a hypocrite. So we’ll see you on May 7th so you can make a big difference in your community 😉 Thanks!
It’s an HONORARY name you ignorant fools; nothing legal and no street names will actually change. “Annandale United” members need to get over themselves and do something ACTUALLY productive for the community, like rally and fight for the hundreds of Annandale residents who recently (illegally) lost their jobs due to Elon Musk.
You betcha all these job losses will very likely negatively impact local businesses, but these Annandale United members are too ignorant to see it. What an embarrassment they are to our town.
For Pete’s sakes people get a life. Your world is crumbling around you and your biggest issue is a sign. How about the change to your federal health insurance policy it’s going to a voucher system. Where’s the outrage.
Where do you get off telling me or anyone else that we need to take a stand against a change in federal employees’ health insurance?
No one in this area of Northern Virginia could care less when millions of Americans lost their jobs through outsourcing to other countries, and through efforts to shut down fossil fuel production.
The well-established response to those millions of people losing their jobs (not a reduction in their health insurance benefits) was “Learn to Code.”
But now you want everyone to be “outraged” over a potential reduction in federal employee’s health benefits?
This is an example of why so many people outside of the Washington DC area consider federal employees to be selfish and over entitled cry bullies.
For the People- I may not agree on everything with you. But I can agree the original commenter looking down on people who want to democratically voice their opinions is not good. He’s busy “on the boat”. Drinking his champagne and not helping his community
Some people would have nothing else to do if they couldn’t be angry or outraged at trivial things.
Seems like a reasonable compromise would be to give an honorary name for John Marr Drive or Markham street.
But, most of the reasoning behind why people don’t like this is that they don’t understand what is actually being proposed.
It does sound like Jiminez did not do a good enough job of hearing from the public on this, but that in general most people are either for this or don’t care one way or the other.
No need to rename or add honorary name to anything. Waste of time, plus other ethnic groups are excluded.
There are more important issues to discuss.