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It'll be Hartsfield-Jackson airport (PC-ness gone wild alert)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | October 21, 2003 | D.L. BENNETT

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: atlanta; georgia; hartsfield; hartsfieldairport; maynardjackson
Seems the race pimps got away with this...
1 posted on 10/21/2003 2:53:20 PM PDT by El Conservador
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To: El Conservador
Meanwhile the crumbling sewers and infrastructure that were deteriorating whil maynard was mayor will cause water rates to at least triple in Atlanta. It would seem much more appropriate to name the sewer system after him.
2 posted on 10/21/2003 2:57:24 PM PDT by freeangel (freeangel)
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To: El Conservador
So I still won't fly, if I can't drive take a train or boat, I ain't going.
3 posted on 10/21/2003 3:06:37 PM PDT by dts32041 (Is it time to practice decimation with our representatives?)
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To: El Conservador
The activists for Jackson spoke repeatedly and never expressed any concern for the man being dishonored. They couldn't care less. Their obvious position was that he is black and the other guy is white, black supercedes white on its PC face. Case closed. Who cares about the Hartsfield family?
4 posted on 10/21/2003 3:09:11 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals (Hillary's book tour was a thermometer in the behinds of the Dim sheeple for a 2004 run.)
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To: freeangel
Anyone seen any numbers on how much it is going to cost me to change all those signs, and pamphlets, and websites, etc...
5 posted on 10/21/2003 3:10:42 PM PDT by lugsoul (And I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin on the mountainside)
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To: El Conservador
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.

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.

6 posted on 10/21/2003 3:18:35 PM PDT by Who dat?
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To: lugsoul
I couldn't even guess the amount of money this fiasco will cost "the little people". However, I am pretty sure that the nitwits who demanded this move will now be demanding money from the whole state whining that this should be a state funded event, just like they are demanding money from the state that the sewer "problem" should not be shouldered by the idiots(politicians and those who voted them into office) who let it get that way.
7 posted on 10/21/2003 3:27:39 PM PDT by freeangel (freeangel)
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To: El Conservador
Maynard Jackson had jack-nothing to do with that airport other than funneling big contracts to his friends.

8 posted on 10/21/2003 4:09:20 PM PDT by Gringo1 (Some days you are the pidgeon....and other days the statue.)
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To: El Conservador
......blacks have been calling the shots in Atlanta for some time now.......they'll run that city into the ground before they're done......
9 posted on 10/21/2003 4:27:24 PM PDT by STONEWALLS
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To: Gringo1
Atlanta is all about using racist minority quotas for gov contracts. It was the racist gov contracts that screwed over the 96 olympics.

The Atlanta coruption left such a bad taste with the scandal plagued IOC that it was the ONLY time the chairman did not end with saying "this were the best games ever."
10 posted on 10/21/2003 5:17:50 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: Gringo1
Maynard Jackson did one thing. He was black, that is the ONLY reason his name is there.
11 posted on 10/21/2003 5:28:11 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: El Conservador
What's next? The Lincoln-King Memorial because Dr. King once gave a speech there?

-PJ

12 posted on 10/21/2003 5:31:53 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's not safe yet to vote Democrat.)
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To: El Conservador
This name change seems to be in the same mold as the quota systems used to build and provide services to the airport. Minorities had to be awarded a percentage.

I am aware of one major contractor that set up a dummy corporation headed by a black in order to get one of the large contracts.
13 posted on 10/21/2003 5:35:58 PM PDT by DeFault User
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To: El Conservador
Can't they just get real and name a park or square or something else in the city for this guy?
14 posted on 10/21/2003 6:12:14 PM PDT by Gritty
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To: freeangel
When Memphis State University changed its name to University of Memphis a few years ago, it was estimated to cost over ONE MILLION DOLLARS to change all the signs etc.

How much more than that it really cost is anyone's guess.
15 posted on 10/21/2003 8:09:53 PM PDT by packrat35 (reality is for people who can't face science fiction)
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To: Political Junkie Too
In VA they celebrate LEE JACKSON KING DAY.
16 posted on 10/21/2003 8:11:54 PM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (You may forget the one with whom you have laughed, but never the one with whom you have wept.)
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To: Political Junkie Too
Now you've gone and done it. Expect the King family to run with your idea and then charge admission to see it.
17 posted on 10/22/2003 3:14:41 AM PDT by freeangel (freeangel)
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To: freeangel
I'd rather see African-Americans erect a monument to their own cherished leaders than try to usurp the memorials of others. Enough of taking from one group to appease another -- there's room enough for everyone.

-PJ

18 posted on 10/22/2003 4:36:19 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's not safe yet to vote Democrat.)
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