One of this year's more interesting dramas for the city of Dallas has been the proposed renaming of Industrial Boulevard. I first posted on this topic back in May with The re-naming of Industrial Boulevard in Dallas. I then followed up when the current controversy arose in June with But really... they had good intentions: Re-naming Dallas' Industrial Boulevard.
Well this week, the City Plan Commission finally voted on a proposal to rename Industrial Boulevard as Riverfront Boulevard. And the proposal was defeated by a vote of 11-3! Media reports mention that a survey on renaming Industrial for Chavez played a role in the vote. This follows an overwhelmingly negative response by business owners to a proposal that would have renamed Ross Avenue for Cesar Chavez.
So now what? Is there momentum for going back to the original proposal to rename Industrial Boulevard for Cesar Chavez? Maybe. Or maybe a new proposal would be a better solution... On Friday, City Council member Mitchell Rasansky floated an idea, in a memo to other council members, to rename the Dallas Farmer's Market for Chavez. Since Cesar Chavez was a farm workers advocate, perhaps this idea is a fitting and appropriate solution. The City Council is due to hear this proposal at this Wednesday's meeting. Stay tuned.
One thing is for sure... hopefully the Dallas City Council has learned a lesson here. If you don't want to carry out public opinion on a topic, you shouldn't ask for their input to begin with.
Comments(3)