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Tara Boulevard to be renamed?


ironchapman

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Ok - just one comment regarding Rosa Parks 'not having anything to do with Atlanta'. That is like Martin Luther King Jr had nothing to do with LA or George Washington had nothing to do with Denver. Rosa Parks was a major component of the civil rights movement and at the very least, any transit system should be a reminder of her legacy.

Then we should really have more Bill Gates Blvd's around our cities.

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Ok - just one comment regarding Rosa Parks 'not having anything to do with Atlanta'. That is like Martin Luther King Jr had nothing to do with LA or George Washington had nothing to do with Denver. Rosa Parks was a major component of the civil rights movement and at the very least, any transit system should be a reminder of her legacy.

hey, that makes sense. I'm over in London now and one thing that amazes me in the unity among all the people, black and white and all others. They never seem to have to worry about this kind of stuff...oh well, it's America. Anyway, I also agree though with an earlier statement that you shouldn't disregard an important aspect of the south(Tara) to make way for another one(Rosa Parks). You should recognize both. White people should realize that Rosa Parks was a catylist to the Civil Rights movement and helped black people get the rights they deserved, and Black people should realize that Gone wind the wind, despite its depiction of blacks as slaves, is also a very important part of the south and its legacy. I guess that's my 4

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Andrea: The problem is they are proposing to tear down the heritage of one group in order to promote the heritage of another group ...
I can appreciate that people whose families actually owned plantations might feel nostalgia and pride for their past. Although my family has lived in the South for a couple of hundred years, we've mostly been people of modest means and have never owned one.

So, while I have a deep and abiding love of the South, I don't feel any sense of investment in the heritage of the plantation system. There is much to treasure about our beautiful Southland, our people and our culture. Yet the institution that made plantations possible was directly contrary to American ideals of freedom and individual liberty. It left a terrible legacy of cruelty and oppression that we have still not overcome.

It's not surprising that the direct descendants of plantation owners continue to feel wistful about those days. At the same time, I could see that if you're an African American living in a community that is predominantly African American, you might not feel the same way about having to drive to work, school, the grocery store, etc., on a road named after the most highly identifiable symbol of plantation culture. I'm not entirely comfortable with it either.

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Andrea: The problem is they are proposing to tear down the heritage of one group in order to promote the heritage of another group (although Rosa Parks is not exclusively a black hero, I think you get my point). A better solution would be to honor her by naming something else for her which is not yet named. That way everyone is happy. Your way leads to division. My way leads to unity and makes everyone happy.

How about keeping the Tara Boulevard name (Atlanta has lost ENOUGH history lately) and dual-signing the route by putting up along the route another name on a big sign such as "Rosa Parks Memorial Highway", but keeping the street name Tara Blvd. Atlanta has lost or marginalized nearly every institution and historical place it's ever had. I understand that the area is more black, and I am suspecting the real reason for this is that they are opposed to references to the book "Gone With the Wind", because of the scenes depicted in it.

Yes, the way the slaves were treated was ugly, but the book was supposed to be realistic. The Old South was horrible for most people, but the whole culture and social structure was quite fascinating, which is why books like "Gone With the Wind" have stayed popular for nearly a century.

However, I feel certain that they will just wipe out the name like they've wiped out everything else around here. Home sweet corporate, politically correct home.

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How about keeping the Tara Boulevard name (Atlanta has lost ENOUGH history lately) and dual-signing the route by putting up along the route another name on a big sign such as "Rosa Parks Memorial Highway", but keeping the street name Tara Blvd. Atlanta has lost or marginalized nearly every institution and historical place it's ever had. I understand that the area is more black, and I am suspecting the real reason for this is that they are opposed to references to the book "Gone With the Wind", because of the scenes depicted in it.

Yes, the way the slaves were treated was ugly, but the book was supposed to be realistic. The Old South was horrible for most people, but the whole culture and social structure was quite fascinating, which is why books like "Gone With the Wind" have stayed popular for nearly a century.

However, I feel certain that they will just wipe out the name like they've wiped out everything else around here. Home sweet corporate, politically correct home.

I'm a fervent believer in preserving the history of the south and Atlanta's track record in that department is less than stellar.

However, I'm still slightly surprised to see folks leap to defend idealized images such as Tara, regardless of whether they are actually descendants of plantation owners. If others had owned plantations and worked them with white slaves for 150 years, and then continued to keep their former slaves cruelly oppressed for another 100 years after that, would whites insist that icons of the old plantation system continue to hold a prominent place in their community?

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Ah, sorry to be so slow on the uptake! :P

I don't advocate renaming streets every time there's a demographic shift, but to me there's a significant difference between fighting to keep the main drag in a predominantly black community named after a plantation (with its obvious connotations of black slavery), and keeping a street named after the mythical land of Oz.

It's not like the name "Tara Boulevard" is some ancient tradition anyhoo. Gone With The Wind came out in 1939, I think, and I'm assuming they renamed Highway 41 some time after that. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955, which is only a short time later and which triggered a social movement that had to have at least as much significance for the folks in Clayton County as Margaret Mitchell's novel.

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From a market perspective, why would they want to change the name to Rosa Parks? Changing road names to MLK hasn't exactly done wonders for the home values, crime perception, or city investments in neighborhoods surrounding MLK Blvds nationwide.

A transit center being named seems to be the most logical choice to me, but a statue never hurts.

By the way, when is Atlanta getting Ronald Reagan Blvd., since he is credited with ending the cold war and stepping up wide-spread disarmament? Seems like those issues are pretty important too.

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Whats the deal in renaming things every time some one dies that already has been given a name? If something already has a name, KEEP IT. It was probably given that name for a reason. If the leaders of Atlanta want to do something to remember a prominate figure, why not create a landmark or something like that. A good example is the creation of Pemberton Place in rememberance of the creator of Coke at the new site of the aquarium and futeure site of the new Coke exhibit. If they want to do something for Rosa Parks, why not do something that will bring some recognition to the area.

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Or, we could pull a weird one like they did at GT with Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field.

I can see it now: Rosa Parks Blvd. on Tara Road! :P

A transit center being named seems to be the most logical choice to me, but a statue never hurts.

Yeah, I could see this happening.

@atlmangum- Renaming a road or something is a good way to honor someone's legacy, especially a person who helped trigger a movement as big as the Civil Rights movement.

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@atlmangum- Renaming a road or something is a good way to honor someone's legacy, especially a person who helped trigger a movement as big as the Civil Rights movement.

I never ment that renaming a road was a bad idea. I thinks its a great idea to remember someone's legacy. What I think is a bad idea is renaming a road that already has has a historical value to it. For example, renaming 5th st. to Rosa Parks Blvd. This way we would still be able to preserve the history of Atlanta. But Atlanta should do something more that just to rename a street after Rosa Parks.

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I never ment that renaming a road was a bad idea. I thinks its a great idea to remember someone's legacy. What I think is a bad idea is renaming a road that already has has a historical value to it. For example, renaming 5th st. to Rosa Parks Blvd. This way we would still be able to preserve the history of Atlanta. But Atlanta should do something more that just to rename a street after Rosa Parks.

Yeah, at some point it just gets confusing, too. Like, "Go down the Zell Miller Parkway till you get to Donald Lee Hollowell, then hang a right on Jimmy Carter over to the intersection of Ralph David Abernathy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and then go about ten miles till you get to Sam Nunn Square....."

With regard to this Clayton County issue, I must say it's hard to see much established historical value in a name like "Tara Boulevard." It's not exactly a neutral name either, as it clearly invokes values that many taxpayers might find offensive.

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From a market perspective, why would they want to change the name to Rosa Parks? Changing road names to MLK hasn't exactly done wonders for the home values, crime perception, or city investments in neighborhoods surrounding MLK Blvds nationwide.

Usually decisions like these have nothing to do with marketing, only as a way of honoring a person's legacy.

By the way, when is Atlanta getting Ronald Reagan Blvd., since he is credited with ending the cold war and stepping up wide-spread disarmament? Seems like those issues are pretty important too.

It's ironic that you mention Reagan in the context of a civil rights icon, as Reagan was perceived to be hostile to civil rights, despite establishing King's birthday as a national holiday.

Plus presidents already get to have all kinds of neat things named after them. And that's usually where his place of origin figures in prominently to "naming rights," as it were (the "high profile" presidents are usually exceptions here, like Washington and Lincoln).

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Well a market perspective may not be important to a governmental organization that is looking to honor someone, but it IS important to the people who are affected by that decision.....

Try renaming West Paces Ferry Road to Rosa Park Blvd, and see if that doesn't go over like a lead ballon.

And as far as bringing up Reagan, it wasn't meant as a slight on race relations, but simply as a reminder that there are lots of people who had no particular relavence to a specific place that did a lot to better the country, yet have not been honored in Atlanta yet with a road.

I'm from the camp that believes renaming roads for people is overused, under-appreciative, and usually has no relation to what the person's life represented. Like I said, give her a transit center/MARTA station, don't just arbitrarily rename something because every other city does.

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Well a market perspective may not be important to a governmental organization that is looking to honor someone, but it IS important to the people who are affected by that decision.....

Try renaming West Paces Ferry Road to Rosa Park Blvd, and see if that doesn't go over like a lead ballon.

And as far as bringing up Reagan, it wasn't meant as a slight on race relations, but simply as a reminder that there are lots of people who had no particular relavence to a specific place that did a lot to better the country, yet have not been honored in Atlanta yet with a road.

I'm from the camp that believes renaming roads for people is overused, under-appreciative, and usually has no relation to what the person's life represented. Like I said, give her a transit center/MARTA station, don't just arbitrarily rename something because every other city does.

There is a Ronald Reagan parkway in Gwinnett county which is a major road.

Don't forget, this is in Clayton co, not the city of Atlanta and the proposal to change the name was brought forth by a group of residents.

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I remember very well when they built Ronald Reagan Pkwy in Gwinnett. The powers that be insisted on the name to "counter" the fact that the dreaded Jimmy Carter already had a road named after him. Back then (late 80's) Gwinnett was really feeling it's newfound Rupublican oats, so to speak! <_<

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