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C.B. 3 raps Beasties co-naming

beasties
The Beastie Boys performing in 2007.

BY LESLEY SUSSMAN  |  You gotta fight for your right… .”

That’s how LeRoy McCarthy summed up his feelings Tuesday night, when Community Board 3 voted to deny his proposal to co-name the intersection of Rivington and Ludlow Sts. as “Beastie Boys Square.”

“There are many people within city government who do support this street renaming and honoring hip-hop and the Beastie Boys,” a disappointed McCarthy said afterward. “‘Fight for your rights,’ that’s what the Beastie Boys would say, and I’m going to see if we can do something to change this.”

C.B. 3 guidelines say McCarthy must wait five years before reintroducing the measure before the board. So the Brooklyn man said his next step would be to take his idea to the City Council. He added that the close, 19-to-13 vote by C.B. 3 indicated strong community support for the co-naming.

Since January the board had gone back and forth on the proposal. The Transportation and Public Safety/Environment Committee initially told McCarthy to collect more signatures to show support before they could consider it.

David Crane, the committee’s outgoing chairperson, said the band did not meet C.B. 3’s criteria for community involvement and dedication. McCarthy disagrees.

“They’ve done so much for the community in charity work and artistic contributions,” McCarthy told the board.

The Beastie Boys were the first big white hip-hop group. The trio wrote many of their raps in an apartment at 59 Chrystie St., and even recorded an early album in a basement on Avenue A.

In 1989, the northeast corner of Rivington and Ludlow Sts. was immortalized on the cover of their “Paul’s Boutique” album.

However, former board chairperson Dominic Berg said the co-naming for a local music group would “open a Pandora’s box.”

“It would open the floodgates for co-naming streets after so many important performers who lived in this neighborhood, like Madonna,” Berg said, drawing laughs. “We only have so many streets.”

But Ayo Harrington, speaking for McCarthy’s idea, said, “If we were talking about another kind of music we wouldn’t be having this debate. Most of this board’s members are older and don’t relate to it.”

Others noted that jazz great Charlie Parker only lived in the East Village four years, yet his residence at 151 Avenue B has been landmarked and the street re-named Charlie Parker Place.

C.B. 3 Chairperson Gigi Li said, “We had a very spirited debate. It was a very close vote but we decided to support the application for denial.”