Late Justice Allen Smith Robbed in Riverhead Street Name Contest

For a town that is undergoing more evolution and improvements than just about anywhere on Long Island, the people of Riverhead don’t appear to like change when it comes to naming their streets.

After two months of accepting submissions in an ceremonial street renaming contest launched on August 15, 2023, the newly constructed Town Hall‘s section of West Second Street will now be forever known as…drum roll…Second Street!

“Let’s have some fun,” the town initially said in inviting the public to suggest names before the town later declared the least fun name the winner of its contest.

According to officials, who announced the winner at an October 17 Riverhead Town Board meeting, the “no change on my watch” contingent won with 10 votes (technically 11), shutting down the hopes and dreams of all those who suggested more creative names to the contest.

The news is a couple months old now, but Dan’s Papers only just received a complete list of the names submitted, thanks to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request our Editor in Chief Timothy Bolger filed last October. A couple of names made us chuckle while others made us cringe, and the funniest part is that Second Street only won on what we perceive as a technicality.

While it’s true that “Second Street” won 10 of the 63 total votes (plus 1 vote as “No Change”), and “Allen Smith Way/Memorial Drive” followed closely with 9 total votes, it’s also true that “Judge Allen Smith Way/Street” received 5 votes and “Town Justice/Judge Allen Smith” added another 1 vote, giving some version of dedication to the late Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith a total of 15 votes, which is 4 more than the 11 votes totaled for “Second Street” plus “No Change.”

Because 15 voters didn’t word their submissions exactly the same, Justice Smith, who died suddenly in 2020 at age 77 following decades of public service and 20 years on the Riverhead bench, would be denied his honorary street name.

Smith wasn’t the only person suggested for the ceremonial street name. “Sister Margaret Smyth Street,” named for the North Fork Spanish Apostolate founder who died in December of 2022, received eight votes.

Other name suggestions received one vote each, including “Ben Goodale Way,” for the Riverhead Police Officer who died of a heart attack at age 42 in 2013; “Detective Brian Simonsen Way,” for the NYPD officer and Calverton resident killed by friendly fire in 2019; and “PFC Garfield Langhorn,” a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient who died throwing himself on a grenade to save others in Vietnam in 1969, and is buried in Riverhead Cemetery.

Former town supervisors James Stark and Yvette Aguiar also received one vote each, as did Zonia Dinora Rivera, a 41-year-old Guatemalan immigrant and mother of two who died in a tragic local house fire in 2021, 11 years after moving to the United States, and Vera Smith Campbell.

Behind Smith and Smyth, two cheeky voters suggested “Asylum Seeker Way” and two others voted for “Community Way/Path.” The remaining 37 suggestions, like those named above, each received a single vote.

Other amusing submissions included several love-themed ideas, such as “Love Is the Way,” “Love Thy Neighbor,” and “Love Wins Avenue,” as well as some patriotic suggestions, like “Street of American Dreams,” “Stronger Together Avenue” and “Hero’s Way/Row,” and a few oddballs such as “Taj Mahal Street,” “Brothers Keeper Avenue,” “Chippie Avenue,” and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

The remaining submissions were based on community, Riverhead and the river, good will, et cetera, as well as a few surnames without first names.

The new Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard’s office, which had no part in the renaming contest, confirmed Monday that the street in front of the new town hall would remain as Second Street, despite the votes for various submissions seeking to honor the late Justice Smith.

See the complete list of submissions below.

Riverhead Street Name Submissions

Second Street: 10
Allen Smith Way/Memorial Drive: 9 (votes for Allen Smith)
Sister Margaret Smyth Street: 8
Judge Allen Smith Way/Street: 5 (votes for Allen Smith)
Asylum Seeker Way: 2
Community Way/Path: 2
Ben Goodale Way: 1
Brothers Keeper Avenue: 1
Chippie Avenue: 1
Citizen Street: 1
Collaborative Highway: 1
Commonwealth Path: 1
Cooperation Boulevard: 1
Detective Brian Simonsen Way: 1
Hope Drive: 1
Hero’s Way/Row: 1
Janowski Street: 1
Love is the Way: 1
Love Thy Neighbor: 1
Love wins Avenue: 1
No Change: 1 (technically a vote for Second Street)
One Community Boulevard: 1
One Sendlewski Square: 1
Our Town Drive: 1
Perkins Street: 1
PFC Garfield Langhorn: 1
River City: 1
River Way/Peconic Main: 1
Riverhead Lane: 1
Stone Street: 1
Street of American Dreams: 1
Stronger Together Avenue: 1
Supervisor James Stark: 1
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar: 1
Taj Mahal Street: 1
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams: 1
Town Hall Plaza: 1
Town Justice/Judge Allen Smith: 1 (a vote for Allen Smith)
Vera Smith Campbell Way: 1
Welcome Way: 1
Wilkonson Way: 1
Well Avenue: 1
Zonia Dinora Rivera: 1