Lawsuit aims to stop the renaming of three streets

HOLLYWOOD – A lawsuit aiming to block Hollywood from renaming three streets that honor Confederate commanders has been filed by several residents who live on Lee Street.

They claim Hollywood violated its own ordinance by not letting residents who live on those streets vote on a name change.

“We think a referendum should be held on those three streets,” said Doug Guetzloe, a spokesman for the Tampa-based Save Southern Heritage, which is representing the plaintiffs. “They illegally waived the ordinance. We don’t think what they did was proper.”

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Broward Circuit Court, names seven plaintiffs: Shelly Ponce, Mary Wisniewski, Leyda Wagner, Raymond LaValle, Donald Shupert, Lubos Sadlon and Roger Bartlett.

“The city of Hollywood has not yet received a copy of the lawsuit, but we feel confident that all appropriate policies and procedures were followed and that this suit is without merit,” said Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey.

Mayor Josh not be reached.

Benjamin Israel, a longtime resident who has been urging the city to rename the streets for more than a decade, said, “Anyone can go to court and sue. That doesn’t mean they’ll be victorious.”

The controversy over the street names made headlines more than two years ago after vandals painted signs on Levy could Doug Guetzloe ,a spokesman for the Tampa-based Save Southern Heritage, which is representing the plaintiffs.

streets named for Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who also served as first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Hollywood commissioners agreed on Aug. 30 to rename all three streets after hearing calls for change from several prominent leaders.

City commissioners plan to hold a 10 a.m. workshop on Oct. 18 to discuss what to name the streets.

An earlier proposal to change Hood Street to Macon, Lee to Louisville and Forrest to Savannah was dropped after several residents objected to the new names as being too Southern.

In all, 1,337 residents and businesses will need to change their address: 810 on Lee Street, 264 on Forrest Street and 263 on Hood Street, Hollywood officials say.

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