Mayor de Blasio Speaks at "Jimmy Breslin Way" Street Renaming Ceremony

For the next week, street in front of the Daily News Building, where legendary columnist colorfully captured New York City, will be temporarily renamed in his honor

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the block of 42nd Street between Second and Third Avenues in midtown Manhattan will be temporarily renamed after legendary newspaper columnist and author Jimmy Breslin, who died in March at the age of 88. The sign is on the block of the former home of the Daily News, the newspaper where Breslin worked the longest.

Jimmy Breslin was born in Jamaica, Queens and began his career as a copy boy for the Long Island Press in the 1940s. His writing first gained national attention when after the Kennedy assassination, he interviewed the diggers of President John F. Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Over his career, Breslin served as a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Journal American, and Newsday. His two separate tenures at the New York Daily News spanned 18 years, wherein he won both the George Polk award (1985) and the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (1986). Over a career of sixty years, Breslin also authored more than 20 books, including Can’t Anybody Here Play this Game? and The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.

The Mayor has the power to temporarily rename a street for a matter of days. A permanent name change process for a street is handled through the legislative process following the introduction of a co-naming by a City Council Member, Council approval, and, ultimately, a mayoral signature. The Administration will continue to work with the Council, the community, and Breslin’s family, friends and colleagues on a permanent way to honor his legacy.

42nd Street & Second Avenue

Manhattan

May 30, 2017