So what will the city name for Dr. Martin Luther King? (Kansas City: neighborhoods, high school)

[MarketStEl]

I didn't even know the subject was up for a vote until I got a text message from a friend of mine who recently moved from Washington (DC) to Memphis to Louisville (not far from where he grew up in Kentucky):

"KC voted to change MLK back to Paseo."

I do remember the City Council's vote to rename the city's historic premier (and longest) boulevard for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., making the news nationwide. After all, Kansas City was one of only a handful of large cities that had named no major street, intersection or building for the face, voice and conscience of the Civil Rights Movement. I think it may actually have been the only large US city that had not done so by the time the council voted 8-4 last year to rename the street for King.

I woke up this morning to find this bit of news mentioned in the same breath as the news that Democrats had taken control of the Virginia legislature and a Democrat held a slim lead in the Kentucky governor's race on NPR.

The report indicated that some believe racism lay behind the 70 percent vote in favor of restoring The Paseo's original name but went on to quote one of the four City Council members who voted against the move as saying it was more the result of Council not following established procedure for renaming streets and had failed to obtain community input.

The fact that it was Paseo residents (from what I hear) who launched the petition drive to put the renaming on the ballot IMO lends credence to her statement. And the overwhelming rejection of the renaming also suggests to me that factors other than racial animus lay behind the rejection. After all, The Paseo - named after Mexico City's grandest boulevard - is the historic "first boulevard" of the city's beloved boulevard system, and it remains the longest of them all, stretching the entire length of the pre-World War II city.

I can see why that would have appealed to Council over the two options ranked above it as candidates for renaming for MLK (the first two were the forthcoming new KCI terminal and 63d Street).

But the vote puts the issue of naming something for MLK into play again. KC is now once again just about the only large city in the country with nothing named for him.

So let me ask you all: What should that be?

I'll admit that I find 63d Street less than appealing - it's not all that impressive a thoroughfare, even if it is a major one. I'd have a similar reaction if someone suggested Prospect Avenue.

Renaming Troost Avenue for King would IMO be symbolically significant, though, given that the street serves as a signifier for the city's deep-seated racial divide. But we'd be swapping the name of one of Kansas City's earliest settlers for King's.

Linwood Boulevard, IMO, would also make a good candidate: it's not named for any person, it runs east-west across the city (and Troost), and even though it's faded, the street retains a good bit of its old grandeur.

Naming the new KCI for him would distinguish the city, which would become the only city in the US with a Martin Luther King Airport.

What say you all?

[Weaubleau]

Why not name something for someone from KC itself that had an integral role in the Civil Rights era? Why does every city need to have something named for MLK? I don't think KC has anything major named for either JFK or RFK, or for Eisenhower, or Reagan, and honestly why should we? None of them are from here, or had a major impact on KC in particular other than the impact they made nationally.

Just naming something for someone because they are such a towering figure that everyone MUST have something named for them reminds me of how China used to have giant murals and statues of Mao everywhere.

[Versatile]

Golly gee. I distinctly remember as a kid being taught that the Paseo blvd was named after a great French explorer.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

Why not name something for someone from KC itself that had an integral role in the Civil Rights era? Why does every city need to have something named for MLK? I don't think KC has anything major named for either JFK or RFK, or for Eisenhower, or Reagan, and honestly why should we? None of them are from here, or had a major impact on KC in particular other than the impact they made nationally.

Just naming something for someone because they are such a towering figure that everyone MUST have something named for them reminds me of how China used to have giant murals and statues of Mao everywhere.

A perfectly good counterargument, if you ask me, and KC already has a street that meets that criteria: Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard. (Bruce Watkins, for whom the modified South Midtown Freeway is named, was a promient businessman and political figure but not what I'd consider a local Civil Rights Movement heavy-hitter, unless you consider the founding of Freedom Inc. a civil-rights milestone. It did mark the entrance of black Kansas City as an independent force in city and county politics.)

But the vote is getting national play, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that many who hear or read about it are fitting it into the meta-story "racism is alive and well in Kansas City." I don't think it fits that meta-narrative at all, or at worst, the ballot question may have spurred some votes against from whites resentful of blacks, but the fact that it was Paseo residents themselves - and they're not white - who launched the petition drive makes that meta-narrative the wrong one.

What this means IMO is that there will be continued pressure to name something other than the junior high school I would have attended had I gone to school in my neighborhood (and I don't even know if Martin Luther King Junior High is still open) for King now that the SCLC ministers put the subject in play.

But on the larger issue of naming things for people not from here: I believe Gen. "Black Jack" Pershing hailed from St. Louis.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Golly gee. I distinctly remember as a kid being taught that the Paseo blvd was named after a great French explorer.

Who would that be?

The French explorer who roamed this area was named Chouteau.

"Paseo" doesn't even sound French.

The street is the Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City's grandest boulevard.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

But on the larger issue of naming things for people not from here: I believe Gen. "Black Jack" Pershing hailed from St. Louis.

But....Pershing was the big cheese from WW1, and the WW1 Memorial overlooks the street which is named after him.

Here’s the background on Troost, the person:

https://www.kshb.com/lifestyle/taste...-troost-avenue

[lovekcmo]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

A perfectly good counterargument, if you ask me, and KC already has a street that meets that criteria: Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard. (Bruce Watkins, for whom the modified South Midtown Freeway is named, was a promient businessman and political figure but not what I'd consider a local Civil Rights Movement heavy-hitter, unless you consider the founding of Freedom Inc. a civil-rights milestone. It did mark the entrance of black Kansas City as an independent force in city and county politics.)

But the vote is getting national play, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that many who hear or read about it are fitting it into the meta-story "racism is alive and well in Kansas City." I don't think it fits that meta-narrative at all, or at worst, the ballot question may have spurred some votes against from whites resentful of blacks, but the fact that it was Paseo residents themselves - and they're not white - who launched the petition drive makes that meta-narrative the wrong one.

What this means IMO is that there will be continued pressure to name something other than the junior high school I would have attended had I gone to school in my neighborhood (and I don't even know if Martin Luther King Junior High is still open) for King now that the SCLC ministers put the subject in play.

But on the larger issue of naming things for people not from here: I believe Gen. "Black Jack" Pershing hailed from St. Louis.

Pershing was from Laclede MO, north central-ish MO and I believe had family in KC and spent time in his youth in the KC area, so he had ties to KC.

[lovekcmo]

We have a 40+ acre park, a school. I think a numbered street, such as 63rd would be great to rename, but there's cost for residents and business to change street names. And not every city has to or needs to have a MLK street and that's not in anyway disrespectful to MLK if a city doesn't have a street named after him. A new street could be names after him, North of the river in KC district boundaries there is going to be a lot of new neighborhoods, etc, why doesn't the city consider a new boulevard going in up north as The MLK Blvd for all the new growth going on up there. KC could be visionary and create a new MLK Blvd in a new growth area instead of renaming a street in an older part of the city.

[James Bond 007]

I don't see what the objection to re-naming Prospect or one of the numbered streets to MLK Blvd would be.

"The Paseo" is too cool a name to change it to something else.

[lovekcmo]

easier, more cost effective to create a grand, new boulevard from the start named MLK, up North where there will be plenty of new streets to be named in the future. Prospect or 63rd st are what I think are good possibilities in the city, but will still require new names for established streets of residents. I'm all for the city creating a beautiful NEW MLK drive fresh from the start.