Representatives of Tribeca Enterprises, the company Robert De Niro co-founded in 2003 as the umbrella organization for the Tribeca Film Festival and other creative pursuits, asked CB1 to approve the renaming of the northeast corner Greenwich and Franklin — the site of the company’s headquarters — as “Robert De Niro Way.” But the CB1 Transportation and Street Activity Committee did not go for the idea, largely because the proposal conflicts with board’s guidelines on street namings. They asked the group to come back next month.

The request, made by Peter Downing, the creative director of the Tribeca Film Festival, at the committee meeting last week, was planned to honor De Niro as “a true son of the city” and as someone who invested in the neighborhood and added to its “urban renewal.” He co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001, and also is a partner in Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Locanda Verde and the Greenwich Hotel. The idea was to mark his 80th birthday this fall.

But the board’s guidelines, revamped just a couple months ago, say that a prospective honoree must be dead for at least 20 years, as well as have a great significance to the city and the district and have a connection to that specific location.

Downing said he wanted to be considered to the “other” category — where “the applicant must provide a strong argument that the proposed honoree had an extraordinary and highly acclaimed accomplishment or involvement for the public good linked to MCD1 and the location proposed for the co-naming.” He also read a letter of support from Christopher Marte who called De Niro a “true hero to the Tribeca community” and oddly, he challenged every committee member that disagreed with his proposal.

Committee members noted that if De Niro can be in the “other” category then so can just about anyone else — and that category was not meant to supersede the individual category.

Not that I know the guy at all, but I would wager that De Niro could care less about this sort of thing. In fact Downing said he’s a humble guy. And as committee member Pat Moore said, “He already has recognition — people all over the world know him. I don’t see any reason why he has to have a street named after him.”