Activist asks for update on renaming street
3-year-old bid to change Virginia Street to Malcolm X
It has been almost three years since former Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson renamed by executive order two city streets to honor iconic African American figures, and the man behind the push for one of those name changes wants to know if it ever will happen.
Community activist Kwabena Rasuli appeared before the Gary Common Council Wednesday to ask when and if the name change would occur.
Rasuli said he did everything the city told him to do and gained approval for his proposed change of Virginia Street to Malcolm X Drive.
“We want to make that happen,” Rasuli said.
The push to rename Virginia Street began in the 1990s but failed to gain traction until late in the decade. Rasuli picked up the cause and with the help of volunteers gathered more than 4,000 signatures in support of the name change. Rasuli went through all of the plan commission steps in order to legally change the street name. That action has still not occurred.
Late in 2019, before Freeman-Wilson left office, she announced the executive orders that would rename Virginia Street in honor of Malcolm X and Grant Steet in honor of the former late former Mayor Richard G. Hatcher. She made the announcement about honoring Hatcher with the street name at his funeral.
Councilman Ron Brewer, D-At large, was chairman of the plan commission when Rasuli went through the process to rename Virginia Street in honor of Malcolm X. He said Rasuli and his efforts should not be punished because the council did not follow through. At the time the plan commission unanimously approved the request.
The measure was supposed to go before the full council for a final vote, but that did not happen because officials thought the former mayor’s executive order settled the matter.
The effort to rename Grant Street to
honor Hatcher has not gone through any part of the process with the plan commission.
At the time Freeman-Wilson cited her authority under state law to make the name change via executive order. She said in 2005, when Scott King was mayor, the city’s law department drafted a policy on renaming existing streets, but the policy requiring a petition signed by at least 51% of the property owners on the street and approval by the City Council was never formalized.
Deputy Mayor Trent McCain said the state statutes cited by Freeman-Wilson also have a clause that states a unit can provide an ordinance that gives the plan commission the authority for name changes rather than the executive. He said the policy first brings the measure before the plan commission for approval before the measure would go the city council for final approval.
It is that policy under which the executive order was deemed to be invalid.
At the time Freeman-Wilson authorized the name changes, she said both name changes would be official and not honorary, meaning the addresses along those roadways also would change.
Malcom X, a Muslim minister, was shot to death in 1965 by three Nation of Islam members during a speaking engagement in Manhattan. He was 39. The three men were convicted of his murder a year later.
Elected in 1968, Hatcher was the first Black mayor of Gary and was one of the first two Black mayors of major cities in the nation. He died in December 2019.
Council President William Godwin, D-1st, said he thought the measure should go forward because Rasuli followed the legal process. He said Rasuli may have some legal recourse against the city if it does not.
“You did everything you were supposed to do, whatever happened between the plan commission and council is not your fault,” Godwin said. “Personally I think it should be corrected.”
Councilman Clorius Lay, D-At large, questioned the expense and official street name change would create for the businesses and residents on the roadway. Each would need to change the addresses on their official documents, bills, vehicles, home and for businesses on various marketing material.
While it may not cost much for the city to make and hang new street signs, the cost to business and residents may be too much.
The Council has asked their attorney, Rinzer Williams, to provide an update on where the matter stands and what the council can and cannot do concerning the request for the next council meeting.
Prince said he would need to get more information about the status of the matter before commenting.