Posted on 03/25/2015 9:08:47 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
A long and contentious chapter in High Point’s history came to an end Tuesday when the Planning and Zoning Commission approved renaming Kivett Drive for Martin Luther King Jr.
The commission voted 7-1 to rename the 5-mile road for the late civil rights leader, and for the change to take effect by Jan. 1, 2016.
“A lot of courage was shown tonight, and hopefully, you will go back and tell all the citizens that history was made tonight,” commission Chairman Andy Putnam told supporters of the renaming who were in attendance for the vote.
Supporters — including Mary Lou Blakeney, who, as a teenager in High Point in 1960, helped organize the nation’s first Civil Rights Movement sit-in by high school students — were elated.
“Thank you for forward thinking. Thank you so much for representing us,” Blakeney told the commission.
High Pointer and former Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis, told the board, “You have made a bold move.”
For 25 years, various groups and individuals sought unsuccessfully to rename a High Point street for King.
City Council in January sought to bring the issue to a resolution when it applied to rename Kivett Drive. The city’s ordinance gives the commission the power to approve street name changes.
For a time during Tuesday’s proceedings, it appeared the controversy surrounding the issue would continue.
After some commissioners voiced concerns that part of the city’s history would be lost by removing the Kivett name from the street, Commissioner Mark Walsh made a motion to name the street for King west of Interstate 74 and maintain it as Kivett Drive from I-74 to Business Interstate 85.
Supporters of the renaming groaned a collective “no” to the idea, and, when no one seconded Walsh’s motion, Commissioner Ed Squires made a competing motion to rename the entire street, from W. English Road to Business Interstate 85.
Squires’ motion was seconded by Commissioner Jim Armstrong and supported by Putnam and Walsh, along with commissioners Tom Kirkman, John McKenzie and Marie Stone.
Commissioner Ozzie Hough voted in opposition.
Walsh explained that he supported renaming the whole street all along but had offered his motion as a compromise when it appeared some of his colleagues were reluctant to remove the Kivett name.
The commission asked that the Kivett name be included in small lettering on new signage under the street’s new name, which will be Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
It will be up to City Council to approve this.
In a separate matter, the commission unanimously approved renaming College Drive to University Parkway.
High Point University representatives said the move would provide a needed update to reflect the institution’s current name, and they also lent their support to the MLK case.
“Choosing Kivett is not an expedient or easy decision to make, yet we believe, at this time, it is the right decision to make, and it will stand as a symbol that Dr. King’s legacy shines bright here in High Point,” said HPU Director of Service Learning Joe Blosser.
Only one person spoke against the renaming — Neil Aberman, who owns a furniture business and a marble and tile company on Kivett Drive, and said it would cost him more than $150,000 to reproduce all of his marketing materials to reflect an address change.
“It’s disappointing that there was not a greater turnout of people that live and own property on Kivett Drive. I wanted to hear from those people,” said Hough.
Stone said the fact that 14 organizations, including HPU, the High Point Chamber of Commerce and the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau, passed resolutions in support of the MLK renaming, made an impression on her.
“I really wrestled with this question for a couple of months, because I feel for the property owners,” she said. “But there’s so much support for it … I think it’s marvelous.”
That way out-of-towners can stay safe by not going anywhere near it.
Or people who want to buy drugs now know where to go.
You almost had me there!
Every town with black folks will want "Barack Hussein Obama Boulevard".
Oh, and since the family copywrited the name (MLK), do they get paid a fee for each car that drives down the road?
People joke about MLK Blvd signifying where a bad neighborhood is. Or is it really a joke? I was on a business trip a few years ago, and we were driving a rental car. We got lost and found ourselves on MLK Blvd in Oakland. We could tell right away that we were in the ghetto.
And I know from personal experience from living in Chicago, that Martin Luther King Drive goes through the south side ghetto there. I’m sure others could tell similar stories.
Anybody know of a Martin Luther King street anywhere which isn’t in the ghetto???
I thought it rather strange for a city which has a population (I'd guess) of 0.5% black (and most of those African African) and had next to zero role in the civil rights movement. But I guess it is fashionable and shows your town is hip and worldly.
Anyway, the street named for Rosa Parks looks like any other part of the downtown area . . . nice neat little shops, restaurants and the like. Whereas one block away, the street named for MLK had seedy looking bars, pawn shops with bars in the windows, check cashing and payday loan vendors. Go figure.
In an email to members of the planning & zoning commission and city council earlier this month, Kivett wrote, “The Kivett name has been an established name in High Point since the year 1903. My great-grandfather, William Larkin Kivett, owned a large progressive 250-acre farm on the now Kivett Drive in the vicinity of where Hatteras Yachts was located. He developed a cold weather-resistant cabbage that was much sought after by farmers and merchants in other states.”
http://triad-city-beat.com/kivett-scion-and-business-owners-oppose-mlk-street-renaming/
“forward”.....
““A lot of courage was shown tonight,”
BS. It takes ZERO courage to do the politically convenient thing.
Every Martin Luther King Jr.Blvd is infested with crime.
Wonder why?
What was that? What just fell?
Oh, It was property values on Kivett Drive.
Exactly my thought. You beat me to it.
Well, there goes the Neighborhood.
Propose naming a Street “Ronald Reagan Boulevard” and see what happens.
Wherever MLK Blvd is, da ‘hood can’t be far away.
You can HEAR the Property Values Dropping!
Was proposed a few years ago here in Charleston, SC to name a street after MLK. One Dem pol declared that it would reduce crime as young blacks wouldn’t commit them there out of respect for the name of MLK. He was serious. The idea was voted down as it seems we already have a MLK Boulevard in the area. Was brought up that having two in the same city would cause confusion with emergency services not to mention people who didn’t live there.
So true. Always avoid Martin Luther King Drives after dark.
Libs won’t be happy even when every street, school, and city is names either MLK, Caesar Chávez, or Obama.
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