By Brian Zanzonico
Jeanette Meyran, whose husband, Lt. Curtis Meyran, was killed in a Bronx apartment fire in January, wants Morris Avenue West permanently renamed for him. Lieutenant Meyran grew up on the block, having moved there with his family from the Bronx at age 4, and raised his own family in the house across the street from his boyhood home.
Village officials, however, are reluctant to take such action. Mayor Anthony Panzarella said that dropping the name Morris Avenue West in favor of Lt. Curtis Meyran Way would inconvenience all residents of the block. Meyran's widow declined an offer from the village to put an honorary street carrying Lieutenant Meyran's name above the Francis Street sign in the heart of the village, and she insists on a permanent change to Morris Avenue West.
"[Morris Avenue West neighbors would] have to notify everyone they know about the address change," Panzarella said. "They have to make changes on documents, deeds. The neighbors didn't want the name change."
But Meyran said the decision shouldn't rest with neighbors or a governing body. "It should be what the family wants," said the mother of Dennis, 16, Angela, 10, and Danine, 6. "We want to live on his street. It should be what the family wants."
Lieutenant Meyran was killed, along with firefighter John Bellew, in a 50-foot leap from an apartment fire at the corner of East 178th Street and Grand Concourse in the Bronx on Jan. 23. Firefighters Brendan Cawley, Jeffrey Cool, Joseph DiBernardo and Eugene Stolowski survived the jump.
Meyran said that the majority of her neighbors approve of the proposed name change, and she is preparing a petition to prove it to the village board. Meyran said that Panzarella's claim that the board's decision on the name change is driven by opposition from neighbors is false. "That's absolutely not true," she said. Neighbors, however, declined comment last week.
Meyran noted that Gov. George Pataki and County Executive Thomas Suozzi have supported her in letters to the village. "I've got neighbors to volunteer to go up and down the block to get signatures," she said.
She does, however, acknowledge that not all her neighbors are willing to side with her. Meyran's attempts to stop a recent summer block party earned her enemies. But, she said, she has allies on both Morris Avenue and Morris Avenue West who would consider the name change a "godsend" because of mail mix-ups. There is duplication of numbers on both streets, and mail is often delivered to the wrong house, she said. Malverne Postmaster James Sheridan said, however, that it is rare. "Our regular carriers deliver by last name," said Sheridan.
Village Trustee Patricia Ann McDonald said officials want to honor Lieutenant Meyran by placing an honorary street sign on Francis Street, directly across from Lt. Joseph Cavalieri Plaza, a small park nestled between A&L Village Market and the Malverne Funeral Home on Hempstead Avenue. Cavalieri, also a member of the FDNY, was killed in the line of duty in 1998. McDonald said that the addition of Meyran's name on Francis Street would give the village a central location to honor fallen heroes.
"I want it to be seen by me," Mrs. Meyran said. "I'm totally disgusted. This should be a hands-down decision without hesitation."
Lt. Curtis Meyran Memorial Field
Meyran has also inquired about renaming Harris Field on Hempstead Avenue, home of the Malverne Little League, Lt. Curtis Meyran Memorial Field. Panzarella said that Harris Field, named for the popular World War II mayor of Malverne, will keep its name.
"He played on the field in Little League," Mrs. Meyran said of her husband. "He coached our kids there and organized a charity softball game for muscular dystrophy."
A tree and a memorial plaque in honor of Lieutenant Meyran will be dedicated near the gazebo in Reese Park on Arbor Day. His widow said she will not attend, and that her husband deserves a more fitting tribute. Panzarella said the village honored three Malverne residents killed on 9/11 in similar fashion. Board members said that neither the families of the 9/11 victims nor Cavalieri's family made specific requests to the village to honor their loved ones. Cavalieri was a former president of the Malverne Youth Board.
"We would like to do something in [Lieutenant Meyran's] memory," Panzarella said. "I've told Jeanette, you have your real family, your fire family and your village family."
Mrs. Meyran said that living on the street named for their father would comfort her three children, who continue to grieve over his loss. Danine constantly questions why "the bad man put up the walls," in reference to the illegal wall that prevented Lieutenant Meyran from escaping the fire. Angela asks who will walk her down the aisle when she marries, and Dennis lost his "best bud."
"This is what [my husband] would want me to do," she said.
Trustee William Malone said the honorary sign in the most heavily traveled part of the village would be a tribute befitting a hero. "I wholeheartedly support is placing an 'addendum' to the Frances Street road sign, dedicating it - but not renaming it - to Lieutenant Meyran," he said. "If Morris Avenue West were changed or if this addendum were added, the only people who would see it would be the people who live there or who visit there. By placing it in the center of the village, more people will see it and remember. Not only that, but by placing this memorial in a more prominent place, it tells everyone how important this is to our village."
Meyran's widow said she doesn't care who else sees the honorary sign on Francis Street. When her children enter or exit Morris Avenue West, she wants them to see their father's name standing alone.
"I will force [the village's] hand," she said. "I'm not going anyplace. It will be wonderful for his children to see that [name change]."
Comments about this story? Mal-wheditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
