Corner Of Congress Parkway And Wells Could Change To 'Wells And Wells'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The effort to name a city street after legendary African American journalist Ida B. Wells may have turned a corner.

Aldermen are proposing Congress Parkway bear the name of the crusading writer.

CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports the name change proposal could bring some confusion for the current corner of Congress Parkway and Wells. If the name change is passed, the corner will be known as Wells and Wells.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is supporting the name change.

Starting at Buckingham Fountain, Congress Parkway is a wide, highly traveled boulevard that runs west toward the Eisenhower Expressway.

The statues and monuments of Congress Plaza at Michigan Avenue seem to be a fitting compliment to a roadway bearing the name of pioneering civil rights journalist Ida B. Wells, but for an eatery at it's western edge, street names could get confusing.

"We're on the corner of Congress and Wells," said Val Dervishi of Tutto Italiano, an eatery that has been on the corner for a quarter century.  "Corner of Wells and Wells? I don't know about that. It's kind of weird."

The situation is not unprecedented as there are other locations in metropolitan Chicago that exist where two similarly named streets come together – the corner of East Drexel Square and South Drexel Avenue in Hyde Park, for example.

Those who try to navigate Chicago with a GPS may also have concerns about the name change.

"Once it happens, we'll see what happens. The corner of Wells and Wells, who knows!" said Dervishi.

CBS 2's Vince Gerasole says Congress Parkway was once named after President John Tyler, who eventually worked to form the Southern Confederacy. Naming the road after Ida B. Wells seems like poetic justice. Congress Parkway is a state road and the Mayor's office is asking the state to move swiftly with the renaming.