The Fall River Planning Board will hold a public hearing to address a pair of petitions requesting to rename two areas in the city in honor of city men.
FALL RIVER — The Fall River Planning Board will hold a public hearing to address a pair of petitions requesting to rename two areas in the city in honor of city men.
Former City Councilor Raymond Mitchell had filed a resolution to name an area around Locust Street to honor the educational work and achievements of the late Ralph W. Small.
Mitchell said he was motivated to request the dedication of a portion Wall, London and Locust streets to be renamed the Ralph M. Small Way in his honor because as a child himself he’d always heard of the good and caring work Small did with his students.
“He was an educator extraordinaire,” said Mitchell of Small who died in 1962, two days after his 80th birthday.
Small, a native of Maine, came to teach Latin at Durfee High School in 1910 then went on to hold the position of vice principal in 1922 to 1951.
An elementary school, now the Mary Fonseca Elementary School, was originally named after Small and Mitchell said it did a disservice not to recognize the educator after former Mayor Robert Correia changed the name in 2008.
Partners for a Healthier Community have nominated physiologist Dr. David Weed, who worked for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for 33 years and retired from Partners in June.
The request is to rename the Amenity Trail along Cook Pond after Weed.
Marcia Picard, of Partners, who submitted the application for the renaming of the nature trail could not be reached for comment, but in her request she identified Weed as a mental health practitioner “dedicated to improving the overall health” of the community as well as bringing in thousands of dollars in grant money to the city.
In addition to other accolades identified by Picard, Weed was a founding member of the Fall River Fitness Challenge.
The planning board hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Atrium at One Government Center.
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