Street name to honor late cop’s memory
NORWALK — The late city police officer Cesar Ramirez will have a street named in his honor in the beat he once patrolled.
After changing a city ordinance, the Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday night for a portion of Chestnut Street be renamed after Ramirez, who died of brain cancer in January. Ramirez spent 32 years doing community work in South Norwalk and was known by students, staff and families at Columbus Magnet and Side by Side School from his time patrolling Chestnut Street near the two buildings.
Anthony Carr, chief of operations and Public Works, said last week during a Public Works committee meeting the sign can be made in a few weeks and the Ramirez family was hoping for a ceremony to honor the renaming in September, pending COVID-19.
The Common Council first attempted the honorary street renaming in February, but
efforts were derailed when former Common Council member Richard Bonenfant brought a forgotten ordinance to the council’s attention: The city could not name a street after someone who died within the past year.
“We understand the importance of city ordinances and upholding them, but we feel this is a special circumstance,” Common Council member George Tsiranides said. “Officer Ramirez was a big part of Norwalk, not just as a police officer, but with his volunteer work with kids and the youth programs. This is going to be closure for his family and a lot of the residents that knew and loved him. I think it’s a good idea, even if we moved up the date a bit.”
Over last few months, the council and the Ordinance Committee amended the ordinance to allow an honorary street renaming even if the person died within the past year if the majority of the Common Council agrees to the change. Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Lisa Shanahan said the change only made sense given the city allows streets to be named in honor of people who are still alive.
“People who are alive can in fact embarrass the city,” Shanahan said in April when the change was approved. “People who are no longer with us are probably out of options postmortem.”
The Public Works Committee held a public hearing about the name change last week. One resident spoke in favor of the change.
“I’m sure there’d be a line of people echoing what I’m saying (if it weren’t for COVID),” Diane Lauricella said. “It would be terrific to have that street named after him. He did true community policing. He truly walked the sidewalk and set a nice example.”