From: Carol Abernethy on behalf of Cal Horton
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 12:43 PM
To: 'Elena Elms'
Cc: George Small; Sandy Cook; Amy Harvey; Sally Greene (w); Bill Strom; Cam Hill; Dorothy Verkerk ; Ed Harrison; Jim Ward (w) ; Kevin Foy; Mark Kleinschmidt ; 'Jim Ward'; 'Edith Wiggins'; Toni Pendergraph; Bruce Heflin; Cal Horton; Flo Miller; Joyce Smith; Ralph Karpinos; Emily Dickens; Catherine Lazorko
Subject: Citizen Comment RE: Renaming of Airport Rd.

A copy of your email message has been forwarded to each Council Member.

Carol Abernethy
Exec. Asst., Manager's Office
Town of Chapel Hill

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Elena Elms [mailto:elms@email.unc.edu]
Sent:
Monday, May 24, 2004 9:01 AM
To:
Town Council
Subject: Renaming of
Airport Rd.

 

As a 20+ year resident of Airport Rd., I strongly object to the proposal to rename the street to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. For the hundreds of residents and businesses, it will be a major inconvenience and expense, not to mention the tens of thousands of dollars of tax-payer dollars spent to change street and highway signs.

I think it would be better to honor Dr King with a new high school or town recreational facility named for him. To associate his name with a place where people of all races and backgrounds will mingle in a postive manner is much more appropriate than yet another road named for him. Since the road name would be too long for addresses, it would be shortened to "MLK" blvd. and defeat the purpose of his name being remembered. And what about the street already named for him? Will it be changed, causing more dispruption, or stay the same, and cause confusion for emergency calls trying to find these addresses? Do the residents of that street wish to have Dr King's name removed from THEIR address?

I think the town needs to think long and hard about changing the name of such a historical thoroughfare just because that was the first proposal. There are so many other ways to remember Dr King--and other more local civil rights leaders, than renaming a street for him

Elena Elms

408 Airport Rd

elms@email.unc.edu