Ibrahim al-Hamdi Way (Bronx)
Present name:None
Location:At the intersection of White Plains Road and Rhinelander Avenue
Honoree: Ibrahim al-Hamdi (1943-1977) became President of North Yemen when he seized power in a military coup in 1974. While in office, he embarked on ambitious economic development plans to help bring North Yemen closer to 20th century modernity. He cemented the central government's control, planned on ending tribal loyalty, and Yemen's medieval social stratification by proclaiming all Yemenis as equal. He also improved relations with Saudi Arabia. He made massive strides in modernisation, building up a modern healthcare and education system and significantly reducing poverty through the implementation of Socialist policies. He allocated 31 percent of North Yemen’s annual budget to education, including a free breakfast program for pupils in remote rural areas. His efforts to eradicate tribal loyalty (including in the military) and establish the rule of law in a country devastated by years of civil conflict were ground-breaking in the Arab world during the 1970s. He abolished the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (a body he believed was an obstacle to the country’s economic and social advancement) and established the Ministry of Local Administration. He also restructured the North Yemen army and raised the salaries of military and civilian personnel. During his rule, North Yemen witnessed remarkable economic growth, with the country’s GDP rising from 21.5 percent in 1974 to 56.1 percent in 1977. Its per capita income rose by 300 percent in the same period. Al-Hamdi was also planning to establish more democratic institutions in the country by founding what he called “popular conventions” to “prepare the groundwork for eventual elections.” He was assassinated in 1977. (Gjonaj)
LL:2022/54

ILL. RTE. REV. IDUS A. NUNN SR. PLACE (Bronx)
Present name:Franklin Avenue
Location:Underneath the Franklin Avenue street sign at the corner of East 169th Street and Franklin Avenue
Honoree: Rev. Nunn, Sr. (dates ?) served in the U. S. Army in WWII and was honorably discharged as Sergeant in 1945.  He was ordained a Deacon in the True Light Baptist Church in 1950. In 1952 he became Pastor of the church, which he served for 18 years.  He organized the Bronx Tuesday Night Baptist Ministers Evening Conference of Greater New York and Vicinity.  In 1968, he founded the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church and served as Pastor for 27 years. He also operated its soup kitchen, organized neighborhood festivals and food giveaways every summer. (Gibson)
LL:2018/139

Israel Martinez Way (Bronx)
Present name:None
Location:At the southeast corner of 149th Street and Wales Avenue
Honoree: Israel Martinez (1942-2020) was a clergyman, civil rights and labor activist, and politician. Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, he spent his teen years in the Bronx before returning to Puerto Rico where in 1960, he graduated from the Mizpah Bible Institute in San Juan. In 1961, at the age of nineteen, he embarked on a five-year Revival and Missionary Campaign that took him traveling through the American Southwest, Florida, and internationally to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. In 1966, he returned to the Bronx. In the late 1960s and early 1970s during the during the Civil Rights Era, with the assistance of an organization known as the Community/Town Congress, he took on employment discrimination. He organized workers and participated in striking for better wages while employed at the Hillside Homes, a housing complex owned by former liberal and progressive New York Congressman James Scheuer. He went on to organize and play a crucial role in advancing minority employment opportunities in both the "gypsy" (non-medallion) cab industry, an industry he would later in life work and drive for, and the unemployed construction worker movement while fighting for opportunities at Lincoln Hospital. In the late 1970s,through mid-80' he served as a Special Assistant to Bronx Borough President Stanley Simon, helping tenants with housing matters. He was very active in politics as a District Leader. From 1988 thru 1991, he was a N.Y.S. Assemblyman representing the then 77th Assembly District. As an Assemblyman he advocated for free transportation for seniors, affordable housing, crime prevention, and more police presence. (Ayala)
LL:2022/54