ATL Street Renaming: Tempest in a Teapot or Straight-Up Tempest?
If you follow weirdly specific local news, you might have heard about the controversy brewing over the possible honoring of a few locals folks in a very Atlanta way: renaming of a couple of crucial downtown Atlanta streets. A few months ago, the Atlanta City Council proposed to rename two downtown streets: Harris Street would be changed to recognize John Portman, the architect behind downtown's atrium hotels (you know, the ones from Dragon*Con!), and Cone Street would be changed in honor of Xernona Clayton, a civil rights activist.
As we've covered previously in our discussions on Decatur Street, the changing of street names around Atlanta is something we've all become rather used to, though we get a brutal reminder any time we have to give somebody from out of town directions. Well, it looks like somebody is standing up against this confusing storm of linguistic craziness.
It turns out that the law requires 75 percent approval of renaming from businesses and residents on the street, that the entire street be renamed and not just sections of it (this is a good one!), and that the group wanting to rename the street pay a $2,500 fee up front to cover expenses involving the name change (e.g. new signs). Input is also required from neighborhood planning and historical preservation groups. Most of the neighborhood residents and businesses are opposed to the street name change.
So much so, in fact, that you can now become a fan of "Stop Renaming Atlanta's Streets" on Facebook.
The City Council has chosen todelay the street renaming until the situation gets resolved. Pretty much everyone agrees that the individuals to be honored deserve the accolades, but is renaming streets the bets way to go about it?
We can see both sides: one one hand, this is an easy and inexpensive way to honor some people who have been extremely important in the history and development of Atlanta--it's no small matter that they're being called "living legends." On the other, renaming streets is confusing and can even cause safety hazards for discombobulated drivers. Plus, the streets are already named after famous Atlantans. Do their contributions matter any less?
We'd love to know what you think? No big deal...or reason to protest?
