Northern Virginia city advances project to rename streets honoring Confederate leaders

A northern Virginia city is advancing a project to rename streets honoring controversial historical figures including Confederate leaders.

The city of Alexandria's project was advanced Monday when lawmakers passed the municipality's 2024 budget, which included funding to rename roughly 41 streets, according to local TV station Fox 5 DC.

The suburban Washington, D.C., city proposed renaming the streets two years ago after Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation.

The city estimated last year it staff has the capacity to rename about five streets a year, with each street requiring 40-60 hours of staff time, and the overall cost could range from $150,000 to $820,000. 

Some streets, such as Echols Avenue named after Confederate Gen. John Echols, will be easy to rename because there are few residents on the street.

However, Beauregard Street, named after Confederate officer P. G. T. Beauregard, is a major thoroughfare with far more residents and businesses, so it is likely to be renamed later than streets like Echols, the TV station also reports.

"This is not about erasing from our history books," Mayor Justin Wilson, a Democrat, said. "We still have a wonderful city museum that tells these stories and talks about these histories and these individuals, but there’s a difference between telling and interpreting history and honoring people that are not worthy of honor."

However, he also said city officials naming streets after Confederate leaders, from the 1950s to the '70s, was a "perpetuation of racial terror."

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.