The street names in Columbia, Maryland, were drawn from art and literature.“Satan Wood Drive,” however, was the result of a typo. It was supposed to be named “satin wood” for a line from an Amy Lowell poem.
They later renamed it.Residents have adopted a variety of coping mechanisms. A priest who lives on the street sprinkles holy water around his house each year. Another man obscures the name by giving it a French pronunciation. Others simply call it S Street.
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Their biggest obstacle has been getting people to take the problem seriously: At a recent town budget hearing, as the residents made their case, the meeting erupted in guffaws. “They wouldn’t think it was so funny if they had to live on the street,” muttered Barbara Chapman, who has lived there for four years.
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The name change, she was told, would cost the community a total of $2,581.20, and it would require signatures from 19 of the street’s 21 homeowners. In December, all but one family signed the petition.
I would have refused to sign the petition.