A great tragedy has turned into a great honor. One of the victims from the shooting at the Chabad of Poway, Lori Lynn Gilbert-Kaye, will have a street named after her.
Eva Drive, a small street near where Lori lived, will be changed to Lori Lynn Drive. The change comes after the Poway City Council unanimously decided to do so, showing community solidarity with Lori and the other victims.
Renaming a street is not something done very often, Mayor Steve Vaus explained. “But of course, as we all know, on April 27, life changed in Poway, particularly for the Kaye family when Lori Kaye was tragically killed.”
Just one mile away from Eva Drive near Green Valley, a shooter opened fired at the Chabad of Poway last Passover killing Kaye and injuring three others, including the Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein.
Usually, cities do not allow naming the streets after the given names or surnames of people, except for pioneer or historical persons. However, when the City Council was approached to change a street name to honor Lori, they couldn’t say yes quick enough.
Her name will be remembered, as will the day of the horrific shooting motivated by pure hatred and derangement. What the Poway City Council and Mayor Vaus have done is not merely symbolic, as it reveals that the Poway community will not be torn apart by forces of evil, but will be united by love and virtue.
