The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Push to rename Confederate Avenue advances
Public invited to ‘listening session’ tonight at City Hall.
The possibility that Confederate Avenue will get a new name looks more likely, as a public “listening session” about changing its name will be held at the Atlanta City Hall tonight.
The meeting, called by Atlanta City Council Member Carla Smith, will give Atlantans an opportunity to weigh in on what would be a significant change for the city. It is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers.
Last month, residents in the Grant Park and Orme- wood Park, through which Confederate and East Confederate avenues run, voted to change the name of the streets to “United.” By city ordinance, 75 percent of prop- erty owners on a street must agree to any name change.
The original name has long been contentious. A retirement home for Confederate veterans, a large brick building, was located on one end of the street. It’s no longer there. But the push to rename the street grew after the killing of count- er-protester Heather Heyer last year in Charlottesville during a rally of white sep- aratists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Some peo- ple have objected to the name change, saying it is an attempt to erase history.
Changing the names of the two avenues was a recommendation of an 11-mem- ber advisory committee set up last fall by then-Mayor Kasim Reed and the City Council. Before it dissolved in November, the Advisory Committee on City of Atlanta Street Names and Monuments Associated with the Confederacy suggested several actions the city should take to remove or address Confederate iconography. Immediately renaming the “Confederate” streets was among the proposals.
The city’s utilities committee, which handles street name changes, will hold a public hearing on the proposal during its meeting on Sept. 25 at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall.