Posted on 10/21/2003 2:53:20 PM PDT by El Conservador
The airport's new name -- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport -- will be flying by year's end.
Mayor Shirley Franklin said she would move quickly to rename Hartsfield International Airport after Monday's 12-2 vote by the City Council to add former Mayor Maynard Jackson's name.
Jackson, Atlanta's first African-American mayor, died June 23. He and William B. Hartsfield, the city's longest-serving mayor, were credited with the growth and expansion of what is now one of the world's busiest airports.
Voting against the name change were Clair Muller, who represents northwest Atlanta's District 8, and Anne Fauver, who represents east Atlanta's District 6. Neither Muller or Fauver gave reasons for voting against the measure. Council- man Lamar Willis was out of the country.
The council also voted to honor former Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., but has not decided how to do so. Allen, who was credited with bringing major sports to the city, died July 2. He also led Atlanta through the civil rights era and helped the city avoid many of the racial battles that rocked other Southern cities.
A commission formed by the mayor had recommended that the city honor Allen with a statue at Turner Field, but the council decided to form a committee to give it further consideration.
"I am pleased the council has taken action in a timely manner to honor both Maynard Jackson and Ivan Allen Jr.," Franklin said. "Both exemplified the best of Atlanta, civic leadership and service."
Franklin said she was unsure of all the steps the administration would need to take to make the change but added she had already directed airport General Manager Ben DeCosta to get moving.
'Going to be all right'
Jackson's widow, Valerie, sat in the audience as the council voted to add her husband's name to the city's signature landmark. Afterward, she was all smiles.
"I believe this is going to be all right," said Jackson, who originally wanted only her husband's name above the airport. "This is a fitting and honorable tribute, not only to Maynard, but to Mayor Hartsfield as well," Jackson said. "Today, more than ever, I am proud to be an Atlantan."
Dale Hartsfield, a distant relative to the mayor whose name previously flew alone, said he was disappointed but the vote came as he expected.
"I am relieved," Hartsfield said. "It's not what we preferred. If this does bring the city of Atlanta together, then I'm in support."
Hartsfield, an automotive advertising sales representative for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, talked to a few people, shook some hands and quietly walked alone out of City Hall.
An issue that dominated the summer, creating racial tension and considerable ill will, made it through the council with only a hint of rancor.
About 150 people attended Monday's council session and two dozen spoke, most calling for the hyphenated name.
State Rep. Mable Thomas, a former council member, struck a conciliatory tone after forcefully telling Atlanta's black elected officials months ago they should stand up and rename the airport for Jackson.
"This is what the strength of the black community will allow right now," Thomas said. "That's not a bad thing."
The mayor took much of the rancor out of the debate a month ago when she announced her support for the hyphenated name. Her pronouncement helped line up council support and made Monday's vote a formality.
Many of the same speakers also addressed a committee of the City Council earlier in the day at an hourlong public hearing.
Ira Joe Johnson, an author and activist, said the council made the right decision, one that will help race relations and properly honor both former mayors.
"For years, Hartsfield-Jackson will symbolically hover over Atlanta like a protective shield and a glorious crown which says to us and the world, in the hometown of Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Mitchell, we are one," said Johnson.
Later Monday, the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition planned an evening to honor Jackson in the old City Council chambers, with community leaders, friends and others sharing memories of the former mayor.
Stuart Eizenstat, a friend of Jackson's and a former chief domestic policy adviser at the White House, said he flew in from Washington to participate in the remembrance and "happened to land just about the exact hour the City Council voted."
"I think I'm the first visitor from Washington to land at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport," Eizenstat said to wild applause.
-- Staff writers Ernie Suggs and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.
There was a documentary called “Startup.com” and Maynard Jackson was present briefly in a couple of shots as one of their BOD members.
He struck me as a scammer at the time… but then, so did several of the people involved in that company.
I’d recommend people see it if they happen to run across it. It was available at our public library in the special interest DVD section.
-PJ
-PJ
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