Council vote called ‘arbitrary precedent’

the street is because Emancipation Park is on that street and it’s consistent with what we’ve done with Memorial and Hermann.”

District B Councilman Jerry Davis added, “Yes, it’s part of history, but I think we need to be a bit sensitive. Because I will guarantee you this room would be full — every person on your street — if I got … your street turned to ‘Nat Turner Way.’ ”

District I Councilman Robert Gallegos, who had delayed the vote one week, repeated his concern that council was setting an “arbitrary precedent” by acting outside of the process laid out in city ordinance — a challenging threshold Gallegos failed to reach years ago when he and other eastside civic leaders tried to change the name of Wayside Drive to honor farm labor leader Cesar Chavez.

Those detours in the discussion did not dampen enthusiasm among civic leaders from the predominantly black Third Ward after the vote.

“We know today that Dowling Street is no longer Dowling Street; it’s Emancipation Avenue now, and we salute all those people involved in the process,” said Deloyd Parker, director of SHAPE Community Center, sporting an ‘Emancipation Now’ shirt. “Ain’t no power like the power of the masses, and the masses spoke today. We’re really excited about it.”

Former city councilman Peter Brown has pledged to cover the city’s cost of replacing street signs, a process that will be completed before the June celebration at which the park’s $33 million renovation will be feted.

In other action Wednesday, City Council approved putting an additional $10 million toward local drainage repairs, such as grading and cleaning roadside ditches and repairing collapsed culverts and pipes.