Rename Downtown Street to Martin Luther King St.?

[orulz]

Dubone, I'm intrigued by your idea. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by renaming Stonewall east of Caldwell and then Independence to King Blvd, though. the Kenilworth/Stonewall/Independence intersection being realigned so that Independence connects directly with stonewall? I really don't like streets that make you turn to stay on a street of the same name because it's confusing.

But the idea of renaming multiple streets in the district after important figures in civil rights is definitely nice. If you're going to commemmorate it, why do it just with a street name?

[redjeep77]

Nothing against king, but why do we have to have a street named after him? It's been 30+ years, and we virtually had no direct connection to him. If they want to name something after a civil rights person, they should be looking (like many fourmers have said earlier) to people that actually did something for black people in charlotte or nc in general. Wasn't there a famous sit-in in Greensboro? Those individuals would be great candidates for something like this. Anyone else feel this way too?

[ElricSeven]

How about Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Baseball Park?

[graydog]

^ dubone, that's an excellent, thoughtful plan. I like it. Will you send it to the city council?

[dubone]

^ dubone, that's an excellent, thoughtful plan. I like it. Will you send it to the city council?

Thank you. I sent them the idea, only I cleaned it up and added more detail.

I still think that a section of 485 would be a great honor, and would certainly be more visible for people in the metro area. But I wanted to get that idea to them so they had an alternative if they went with a downtown boulevard.

[lupitachica]

My question is, is this really the outcome? What backs this up, other than a presumption? You name a street and suddenly we have an increased sense of harmony and belonging in the city? Maybe its a temporary pride booster, but what lasting cultural improvement does it cause? Does it release any obligation to continue to seek progress, or does the response become "well, we named the street, we did our part and we're done". It strikes me as being a governmental form of lip service. But, maybe all there is agreement on is that we need to take some kind of first step.

I think society honors its "heroes" and communities tell their "stories" with the names they give their streets, buildings, etc. I think this issue is about power and who wields it in Charlotte (and other towns/cities/states/etc). As certain groups gain strength and the ability to shape the landscape of their communities, they determine which historical figures are honored, what history is taught, what ideas are promoted. This battle of changing the names of streets to MLK (or another figures in American history who represent people who were forced to be on the outside and had to fight to get a piece of the pie) is about the power of those on the come up vs those struggling to retain the upper hand - symbolic or not. Sometimes symbolic wins are very important in war (as my Korea and Vietnam vet uncles have told me) and some view this issue as a war about what type of society we're going to have and what people are we going to honor.

Frankly, I believe King's legacy and his position (rightfully or not) as the face of the civil rights movement warrants an appearance on our money even but until those who value the civil rights movement have the power to uplift its importance in society to a place greater than a footnote in our history books and in the American pysche then I don't see that happening. But it will probably speak volumes about who's running things when it does.

[graydog]

Mary Newsom has a recent post on this topic. Based on this it would UPers have done more homework on the Stonewall history than our local history experts. I love the quote at the end from Tom Hanchett. Oh, Tom!

Here's the post

http://marynewsom.blogspot.com/2006/01/sto...tin-luther.html

And if you haven't had enough debate on this issue, there are additional reader posts there too.

[monsoon]

The Martin Luther King Memorial parade is today in downtown Charlotte. It starts on W. Trade and terminates at the Martin Luther King Memorial Statue in Marshal park.

[hueion39]

There is a suggestion in the printed paper today to rename Tyvola - Fairview - Sardis - Rama Rd - Idlewild into Martin Luther King Blvd. It would certainly simply the naming of that highway.

Ususally, I am not in favor of renaming roads.

That however, would be a great idea. I am all for ending the labyrinth we call our road system.

[dubone]

Oh my gosh, I somehow missed the post about Tyvola to Idlewild!

That cracks me up. The city council would have to meet in the arena to have room for all the people opposed to it.

Part of the reason there are all of those names for connecting roads, is that they are historic names that were maintained when they were connected to form a thoroughfare. Considering many of those go back so long, I think I'd be against that.

Again, it all goes to respecting longstanding streetnames, as they are a part of the local history.

[hueion39]

I knew this was coming:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...ws/13634483.htm

5th St in Greenville is the main street through downtown and for the university, East Carolina Univ.

I went to ECU and was there when the portion of 5th St. was renamed for MLK.

At the time, the civil rights leaders in the negotated the deal. The historians and the university were willing to rename a portion of the street in exchange for the downtown/university section to keep the historic namesake.

It is amazing how some people easily forget the recent past to push a political agenda.

[MZT]

High Point has a similar story. There were numerous proposals over the years to provide a street for MLK-- but the planning department could never come up with a section long enough to satisfy the initiators of the renaming. They wanted something that would loop around and go through many parts of town.

When a plan was rejected, for a pretty major street (can't remember which one but it went near Oak Hollow Mall), the city council said the heck with this-- we're tired of it-- and changed the street renaming ordinance so that it could no longer be initiated by citizens.

[monsoon]

So this die back down until MLKs birthday next year?

[Noneck_08]

So this die back down until MLKs birthday next year?

Well not quite yet. Lexington is planning on renaming Talbert Blvd. to MLK Blvd. This was just in the local paper today and it actually quite shocked me. The good thing about it is that Talbert doesn't run threw a bad part of town. In fact, it's on of Lexington's busiest roads. But from what the paper is saying, there is alot of support for this.

[dubone]

http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/e3rvm...ttach030227.pdf

Well, it looks like the committee is done with the list of options for MLK Blvd. A decision will almost certainly be made today. I'm a little disappointed that they kept the full "Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd" and that 485 is not an option.

The options:

- Brevard, by the Convention Center, Arena, and the proposed NHOF

- Stonewall, as discussed at length earlier

- Freedom

- Independence through Midtown and Elizabeth

- King's Drive

- 2nd Street

I am strongly opposed to the downtown options, because of the historic nature of all the street names, including 2nd Street. My favorites are thus King's, Independence and Freedom. I like the King's Drive option, as it is pretty much related to its historic name (the comments on King's Drive historic name is lame considering they don't mention the historic nature of the downtown streets, which are more than twice as old).

I think politically, this will come down to choosing Independence. The comments say it all: it needs to be renamed anyway, no residents and few businesses must change their address, it is prominent and would have two freeway exit signs.

[monsoon]

I would be opposed to renaming Independence and Freedom. Those names are directly tied to the city's history of having been the first in the nation to formally declare independance from Britian during colonial times. To rename those streets because of political pandering would be absolutly shameful and a dereliction of the city's duty to the citizens of this city.

If they absolutely have to rename a street I would go with renaming 2nd street as it is just a number.

The best option, IMO, would be to name one of the new highways after MLK.

[dubone]

I highly doubt Freedom will be renamed, as it doesn't meet the criteria of many, to avoid high crime and/or mostly black parts of the city.

To be clear, though, the only part of Independence that is being considered is the old section through Midtown, which is already slated to be renamed anyway because of the confusion with the main Independence Blvd. The freeway/expressway will still be called Independence.

I don't agree about 2nd because that number has been the name of that street since the 1700s/early 1800s. It isn't just a number, it is the number between 1st and 3rd.

[dubone]

Mitchell has agreed to not rename Stonewall Street.

Ok, I am really frustrated. 2nd Street is now MLK Blvd.

I hate that he is so smug about it. The street name is hundreds of years old, and he pretty much gave a 'cuz I feel like it' answer as to "why".

He blatantly shut down the alternate opinions for why Independence is the obvious choice.

He obviously wanted it because it would run past a significant number of new projects, Novare's Energy Bldg redev, baseball, the park, the LRT, the HOF, 2nd Ward Redev, and the Adam's Mark Redev. I just wish they had used a shorter name. It is so tacky.

[Southernyank]

So 2nd is now officially MLK? thats gonna further throw off the numbering system. I mean you already have Trade st in there where 5th should be. When are they going to actually begin recognizing it as MLK?

[dubone]

Yeah, it will be renamed as of next MLK Birthday.

Why should we stop at renaming streets after Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior? There are no numbers named after him, and that seems like an affront to the civil rights movement. I think number two should be renamed to "Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, Number". When kids in public school learn to count in middle school, they'd learn "One, Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, Number, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten".

It was perhaps very telling that no one clapped when a lady spoke to city council and said instead of renaming a street, why doesn't the city volunteer to clean up litter from an old black cemetary, and other things to improve the condition of people's lives.

There were also Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, Number kids who spoke about honoring Dr. King with a park and a statue.

[monsoon]

If they absolutely have to rename a street I would go with renaming 2nd street as it is just a number.

....

Occasionally I have a bit of influence in this town it would seem.

[MZT]

It was spooky to see how quickly that meme passed through UrbanPlanet to the city council!

[DigitalSky]

Occasionally I have a bit of influence in this town it would seem.

You sure do.

It'll be a little weird from going 1st MLK Jr 3rd 4th....

[dubone]

Do you guys think this could jeopardize the goals of getting 2nd extended into the Chetrit group site and also across the tracks to Cedar? I really want those to happen, but considering the negative connotation most people ascribe, it might add to early opposition and keep those projects on paper only. I also hope it doesn't hurt any development on that corridor. I'm not saying it should, but it could hurt demand if it adds to the perception of crime.

[DigitalSky]

The more I think about it, this just sucks. 2nd St. being renamed to MLK Jr. Blvd. just does not fit. This is absolutely insane. Make a new road and call it MLK Jr. Blvd. but don't screw up the numbering system uptown.