American voodoo
Florida town changes MLK street name
Sixth Avenue will still keep commemorative MLK signs
ZEPHYRHILLS, Florida (AP) -- The city council of this central Florida town tried to settle a bitter, monthslong dispute by voting Monday to change Martin Luther King Avenue back to its original name of Sixth Avenue, while keeping up street signs with both names.
The 4-1 decision followed almost two hours of public testimony over an issue that turned neighbor against neighbor and exposed racial tensions in this town of 11,000 founded by Union veterans of the Civil War.
"In my opinion, it's just pure evil that has come to the citizens of this town," Donna Church, a white resident, told the city council as she tried not to choke up. "I know people who have known each other 20 years who won't speak to each other anymore."
Sallie Stewart, a white resident who is married to a black man, said the debate that erupted over renaming Sixth Avenue last October to honor the slain civil rights leader had exposed the state of race relations in Zephyrhills, about 25 miles northeast of Tampa.
"Thank God the cover has been pulled off Zephyrhills," Stewart said.
Some opponents said they didn't want to change their addresses and weren't consulted. Others said renaming a street after King could hurt the town's economy, as streets named after him elsewhere frequently run through poor neighborhoods.
That is the most lame excuse I've ever heard.
The economic fortunes of the street has little to do with its name. It's like expecting Bill Gates to go bankrupt because you know some guy named Bill who's broke.
