Dallas street name battle still far from water under bridge

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 09/24/2008 | James Ragland

[yupyupyup]

To be honest, I've pretty much been worn down by this whole Ross Avenue/Industrial Boulevard name-changing brouhaha.

What a mess.

The ruckus is making our fair city look petty and unsophisticated, incapable of even reaching a consensus on what to name a signature street that will define the largest public-works endeavor in city history.

Riverfront Boulevard was catchy.

Hold on, I thought we were calling it César Chávez.

No wait, it's still Industrial.

Good grief, the name is still up for grabs, the victim of a knee-jerk and misguided political reaction that's revealing, once again, that Dallas can't move beyond racial politicking – even when the stakes are symbolic and superficial.

[yupyupyup]

The Latinos on the city council won't let this one die. I really hope we don't name that street Cesar Chavez. It's not like he was really a civil rights leader anyway. They think because we have an MLK Blvd and a Malcolm X Blvd that they should get one too.

[neb52]

I don't understand why it needs to change from Industrial to begin with. But then what do I care. I don't live in that scuzehole that claims to be a major city. Street name changes always bother me. They are usually politically motivated that doesn't benefit anybody or contribute to advancing the city forward.

Its like Border St. here in Arlington. They changed just the portion that runs through the campus of University of Texas at Arlington to UTA Blvd. So from one end you go from Border to UTA to Border without changes streets. WTF for?! How does that benefit anybody? If anything it is annoying. Try giving somebody directions and having to explain that Border and UTA are the same damn street.

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[shadeaud]

Ever since so many cities chose to change the name of a major road to MLK Blvd, the Hispanic community has demanded equal recognition. Here in San Antonio we changed part of Commerce St( runs right through the center of city, even the Alamo) to Cesar Chavez blvd. Major uproar from the citizens caused chityy city council to adjunct the name to Commerce in certain sections. Totally meaningless IMHO. Major hwys here are named for war heros and yet only a small minority of people first know the name or the road rather than the numeric designation much less who the person was that the freeway was named for.
One question I have is IF 0 bamma is elected( there goes my breakfast) with A&M change George W.Bush Blvd to ...... nagh, nevah happun

[neb52]

That’s the George W. Bush Dr. and it’s called that since his Presidential Library sits on it. I see why or how Obama being elected would change that.

[neb52]

That is....

I don’t see how or why...

[normy]

They are trying to make that area an attractive place for tourists and businesses. Naming it Cesar Chavez road wont do that. Names like MLK, MalcomX and Cesar Chavez just inform people to stay away.

Riverfront Blvd would have been much better for the city, but Dallas is a joke where Black Panthers bring shotguns to school board meetings, whites send their kids to private schools and Hispanic residents can't function because they don't speak English. The schools are falling apart even with Robin Hood, where the Suburban kids are forced to pay to play highschool sports so kids in Dallas don't have to.

[TomGuy]

Silly argument.

Trace any major street across DFW and it changes names ever time it crosses a community/city boundary.

The same continuous street can have upwards of half-a-dozen different names as it crosses the DFW Metromess.

[Arrowhead1952]

Same thing here in Austin. Years ago, the silly council renamed 1ST street to Cesar Chavez and 19TH street to MLK BLVD. I P*** people off using the old names and they get lost. Keep Austin Weird is the correct name for the DUmmies here.

[PeteB570]

You should live in my town. The road system from the late 1700s and early 1800s radiated from town like a spider web.

Over the years the connecting roads filled in. As traffic got heavier they aligned the intersections. Now you can be driving down Yadkin, go through a light and it becomes McPherson Church road and a bit later and another light and you're on Owen drive. Then there is Skibo to Pamelee to Country Club Drive.

Drives new people nuts.

[itsthejourney]

Keep Austin Weird is the correct name for the DUmmies here

Austin feeds on it's weirdness. Every time I exit off of 35 onto MLK it just p!sses me off royally.

[KYGrandma]

The other day I drove down I-65 into Louisville. They had named it MLK X-way. Now if I recall there was a vote on this last year and it failed miserably. What happened to the people’s voice?

[Arrowhead1952]

That is why I tell people to exit on 19th street. They will call and ask where the 19th street exit is, and I’ll tell them between 18th and 20th.

Same thing with 1st street. It is SOUTH of 2nd and north of the river.

Can you imagine the cost businesses have to absorb changing all their ads, stationary, street side signs for a stupid name change? Same goes for the city and state for street and main thoroughfares exit signs.

[yupyupyup]

I lived in the UK for many years. In the city where I lived, about half the street names downtown ended in “-gate”. One end of a street might be called “High Ousegate” and the other “Low Ousegate” and it wasn’t easy telling which was high and which was low. We even had one street that was only about 8-10 feet long; in a 20 foot stretch, that street changed names three times. 100 feet further down it changed names again.

Been there done that! :-)

But getting back to Cesar Chavez: I’m sick of Latinos whining that they want to be “fairly represented” by having a street named after an economic unionist terrorist. Is that really the best they can do? Cesar Chavez was NOT a civil rights leader. He was practically a communist.

Are we going to have Che Guevara Blvd next? Fidel Castro Blvd? Hugo Chavez Blvd? Lula da Silva Blvd? Noooo, no Lula da Silva Blvd...he’s not a cholo, he’s Brazilian. Not one of them.

[yupyupyup]

Read the rest of the article; it’s not his only argument. I thought the commentary was pretty good, shooting down many of the latino arguments in favor of renaming the street for Chavez.