Aids

What’s in a street name? Apparently a lot, according to a group of residents in a historic Newark neighborhood.

A group of neighbors in the city’s Forest Hill section are up in arms after City Council President Luis Quintana recently sponsored a resolution to name a street corner after Elena Perez, a local resident and longtime HIV/AIDS advocate who died in April.

The Forest Hill Community Association, however, says an intersection a block away from the Ballantine Gates — the stately entrance to Branch Brook Park on the corner of Lake Street and Ballantine Parkway that the city originally proposed for the sign — is a more appropriate site to honor Perez.

The association says that it’s protecting the interests of a legally designated historic district. The North Ward neighborhood is home to the city’s oldest residence, the Sydenham House, built in 1712.

On Thursday, Quintana said the parties came to a compromise and agreed to erect a sign for the "Elena M. Perez Plaza" on the corner of Berkeley and Highland avenues.

The city council will vote on the amended resolution Tuesday.

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After facing stiff opposition from the Forest Hill Community Association, the city decided to move the street dedication to the corner of Berkeley and Highland avenues in Forest Hill.

Eunice Lee/The Star-Ledger

But Perez’s younger sister, Isabel Davila, says she was stunned and dismayed at the association’s response. Her sister, who died at age 79, dedicated her life to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, advocating for patients and created the HIV lab program at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, Davila said. She was a parasitologist in the hospital’s infectious disease department, according to Davila.

"Why (is it on) one street she’s not good enough? That was my anger," Davila said.

Quintana later told Davila that he and other private donors would set up a scholarship fund in Perez’s name. No city funds are being used, Quintana said.

Davila said she’s glad the scholarship will help someone in the future but can’t help but see it as a consolation prize. The FHCA’s vocal opposition still stings.

"They didn’t know her. They didn’t know what she did," she said of the association. Perez was a longtime Forest Hill resident and Davila still resides there on Highland Avenue.

So why is the intersection a block away more suitable than the first site?

"If you were going to ask me why, I have no clue," Davila said.

FHCA

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