Friday, May 13, 2011
Guv'ment Street renaming ploy revs up new showdown
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, May 13, 2011 at 4:57 PM
- CL File
- Render unto Ceasar…
Well, at this Tuesday's City Utilities Committee meeting, Councilman C.T. Martin unveiled the agreement he'd worked out with the Clayton camp to christen a portion of Hardy Ivy Park, a pocket greenspace across Peachtree Street from the Suntrust tower, as Xernona Clayton Plaza. That sounded fair to everyone, so the committee members voted to send the measure to full Council.
Then came the move that's left a bad taste in some folks' mouths. Council President Ceasar Mitchell, who rarely drops in on committee meetings, showed up to explain that Portman's peeps wouldn't settle for anything less than a major downtown street renamed in his honor. Therefore, Mitchell explained, he was requesting the committee revive the tabled legislation to rename Harris Street and send it on to full Council this coming Monday, May 16. The group did so, but on a split vote and without the usual recommendation for approval.
The result is likely to be another crap-storm of protest by neighborhood activists. Already, the opposition has been busy organizing. A Facebook name with the to-the-point name of Stop Renaming Atlanta Streets has reignited with comments calling for residents to petition the Council to reject the Portman renaming. They're likely to remind Council that it could be breaking the city's own ordinance requiring approval by 75 percent of the residents of the affected neighborhood, as well as clearance from the Urban Design Commission.
Now, no one's saying Portman and Clayton aren't worthy of being honored. With his trademark soaring atrium, the architect influenced urban hotel design for a generation of Americans, and he helped put Atlanta on the map as a convention town with his AmericasMart complex. Clayton, meanwhile, is a black broadcasting pioneer who created the Trumpet Awards honoring African American achievement.
But, speaking just for myself, I'm not a proponent of naming streets after living people no matter who they are, if for no other reason than because it invites the tawdry spectacle of prospective honorees lobbying on their own behalf.
Plus, there's the argument that most of the time we change a street name, we're taking away an honor bestowed on formerly noteworthy Atlantans whose only crime is that we've forgotten who they were and what they did. (That doesn't go for streets named for famous segregationists.) In the case of Cone Street, descendants of Judge Reuben Cone, a pioneering Atlanta homesteader, argued against the name change. Whoever the Harris guy was didn't appear to have left behind relatives to stick up for him. But changing the street name is another case of Atlanta blithely erasing its history.
I should also say that Council members are not ticked off solely because they're likely to take public flack for another contentious vote (on an issue unrelated to substantive city policy). Some of them also are upset with how their Council president handled the matter by blindsiding them in a committee meeting.
In fact, Mitchell had done something similar just a day earlier during the full Council meeting when he tried to put them on the spot by taking an impromptu poll of their position on the mayor's pension proposal. Councilman Lamar Willis, a lawyer, quickly reminded Mitchell that his position only gives him authority to run Council meetings, but not interject himself into policy debates. From what I hear, the incident has stirred some ill feelings that may yet bubble up into more trouble…but that's a blog for another day.
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
I see mayoral wannabe Mitchell is now angling to become private citizen Mitchell. And who cares if Portman's gang won't settle for anything less than an entire street named after him. Just who are these people and why are they more important than the citizens of Atlanta? What are they going to do if they don't get their way, destroy more of downtown with blank walls, loading docks, and parking decks?
Instead of constantly renaming things, why not create NEW things and then name them after whatever ego ecosystem has the most influence at the time? At least the citizens would get something new and we could be honest about why they're so wrapped up in the name game.
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Isn't it a good thing that Ceaser Mitchell took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule of fund-raisers for his own campaign in order to pretend to conduct some City business?
John Portman? What are his people going to do? Take the buildings away? Get all huffy and have ten man march?
It's all so clear now... merge this story with the one about graffiti. I can't wait for the "Portman has a posse" posters and tags to appear!
Come on "artists" make it happen.
Seriously- he'll take nothing less? How entitled of him!!! Maybe he/ his firm can design this train station thing and name it after him...
Just give Portman's name to Peachtree Center Avenue, between Peachtree & Courtland. All of his dated buildings- which architecture critics dismiss as depressing- line that street anyway.
Who is this asshole and why does he think he "DESERVES" a street named after him?
Something else has got to be going on here that we, who don't have insider access to City Hall, are unaware of...
Smells like a power struggle somewhere
And these days, all power struggles seem to lead back to lord high king (sir kasim; he and deal seem to be cut from the same cloth)...
From Portman's theoretical writings it would actually be quite humorous for a street to be named after him. His early theories on urbanism often relate the street to a sewer for automobiles. Humans should be elevated above the street into the glorified air of the gerbil tube. Thus the vacancy and depression of the Downtown Atlanta streets surrounding Portman's buildings. It is possible to traverse over 14 blocks of Downtown Atlanta without ever setting foot on a sidewalk. So sure, lets rename a sewer after the old fart.
Wikipedia does not have much info on Xernona Clayton, and can anyone explain her accomplishments (besides simply being involved in the civil rights movement, since many people have that distinction and most are not honored)? Is it true she made hotel arrangements for many dignitaries coming to Dr. Martin Luther King's funeral?
Ha, ha 10 man march! Sweet.... I hope this doesn't go through, seems like a slippery slope to me. Soon everyone will want a friggin street named after them just 'cause. You know what, I want a street named after me then. Jayde Ave. No Jayde Lane . No Jayde's Magnificent Mile. Hmm, it'll come to me...
#1-No more naming streets for living people.
#2-Freaking A....just put his name on the list for a new street or a new park or plaza and stop the nonsense.
Is it just me or do other people find the irony in the city wanting to rename an old street rather than adding his name to something new...he's an architect, for crying out loud...the whole premise of his importance is attached to designing new things.
Streets should not be named after a person dead or alive period. The money wasted on renaming streets and buildings is ridiculous. These as...s wipes think they are entitle and think the people should not question their actions. Its good that the people are involved..this needs to happen on every level of gov.
Thanks city council for once again proving that if you have a wheelbarrow of money, you can do anything you want. Citizens are important... except when they're not, which they never are when the wealthy are involved.
I hereby decree the linear infrastructure formerly known as Harris Street, the "John Portman Automotive Sewer."
As if our city council needed another reason for the citizens of Atlanta to despise them. Our budget is in the toilet, and they're wasting taxpayer time and money on someone who contributed to the architectural purgatory that is our downtown. Why don't we name one of his "gerbil tube(s)" in his honor? That's more fitting than the streets he shunned.
Ridiculous! Does no one care about historic preservation anymore? One of the worst examples is when they changed the name of Ivy Street (named for the first permanent European settler in Atlanta) to Peachtree Center Avenue...like we needed another friggin' Peachtree ANYTHING in Atlanta. Heck, if we don't care about preservation, lets just tear down some of those architectural "marvels" created by Portman - now THAT would be a fitting tribute.
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