To Boldly Go Where The Boldest Have Gone Before And Will Continue To Go To

The Boldest supporters have successfully lobbied to rename Hazen Street — otherwise known as the last glimpse of freedom for many of us — “Avenue of the Boldest,” evening it up with the other of the city’s superlatives:

It’s a road most of us hope we never have to travel. For New York City Correction Officers, however, it’s part of their commute everyday to and from Rikers Island.

The bridge they have to cross — from Astoria to the city’s main jail — is the northern terminus of a thoroughfare which used to be called just Hazen Street. As of last Thursday, it has a new, second name: Avenue of the Boldest.

New York’s Boldest is what Corrections Officers are informally known as: a tag-line which mirrors the more famous nicknames Finest and Bravest for police officers and firefighters.

“Even the sanitation guys, they have the Strongest,” commented Corona Councilman Hiram Monserrate during the unveiling ceremony at the northwest corner of 19th Avenue and the Avenue of the Boldest. Monserrate, who himself used to be one of New York’s Finest before becoming a politician, was referring to a stretch of Worth Street in Manhattan which has been co-dubbed “Avenue of the Strongest” since 1996.

The fireman and the police officers have each had their own avenues since before even then. “A lot of people know that my colleague,” continued Monserrate, speaking of Astoria’s Peter Vallone, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, who was standing next to him, “doesn’t like to do street renamings, but I managed to convince to do this one.”

“As many of you know,” said Vallone, “I was a prosecutor, so I know some of the vicious people that are put in here that we know [sic] longer have to worry about again, because of these guys.”

What exactly happens in there that we “no longer have to worry about” inmates?

See also: barrypopik.com’s “Finest, Bravest, Strongest, Boldest” explainer.

Location Scout: Rikers Island.