Medina leaning towards ‘generic’ names for streets at Business Park

MEDINA – The Village Board has been discussing in recent months how to best name three streets that lead into the Medina Business Park off Maple Ridge Road.

One of them will be named for Pride Pak, a company that opened a 68,000-square-foot vegetable processing plant at the Business Park in 2016. The Pride Pak street could eventually extend farther back into the business park.

There are two other short roads that aren’t named. Making them official village streets will qualify Medina for more CHIPS funds from the state for road maintenance.

 The board has received many suggestions to name them in honor of key village entrepreneurs or community leaders from the past and present.

But some of the board members are leaning towards more generic names such as Commerce Way, Enterprise Way or Industry Way. (The board prefers “Way” in the street name to be consistent with Marcia Tuohey Way, a street leading into the business park off Bates Road.)

Village Trustee Jess Marciano said many of the names mentioned honoring people are already noted on many of the buildings in the community. She said she would prefer not picking certain family names for the street signs. Village Board member Debbie Padoleski agreed. She mentioned that too during the April 1 Village Board meeting.

Mayor Marguerite Sherman said the board will take two more weeks before likely reaching a decision on April 22. She said she would be open to naming a street in honor of Owen Toale, the former publisher of The Journal-Register and an active community volunteer in his retirement. He was also on the Village Board for about a decade.

He passed away from cancer at age 76 on March 25.

“He had cancer for over 22 years and that didn’t stop him from giving of himself,” Sherman said. “I think that says a lot.”

In other action, the board accepted the resignation of Medina police officer Corey Collins, who is joining a different law enforcement agency. Collins’ resignation is effective on April 14. He joined the Medina PD in 2016.

He is the second Medina officer to resign within the past month. Michael Borrell resigned on March 30 after 16 years with the Medina PD and has joined the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.