West Village toys with Common Sense street name

Locals are petitioning the City Council to rename their street after Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine and Barrow Street in the West Village
Thomas Paine and Barrow Street in the West Village

WEEKENDEDITION  West Village locals are looking to make a “Common Sense” Change On Barrow Street — renaming it to honor the 18th century writer and revolutionary Thomas Paine.

“Thomas Paine is like the Founding Fathers’ founding father. He’s the one who made the convincing case for independence,” Dylan DePice wrote in an online petition to the City Council calling for the change.

“The guy who did as much as anyone to spark the creation of a country founded on religious liberty deserves to be honored for it.”

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The street, which became city property in 1809, was named after Thomas Barrow, a rich landowner and a vestryman at nearby Trinity Church. [NYP]Christopher Cameron