FeedsChavez Debacle Comes to a Screeching Halt: No Rename to Happen!
Holy shit: now NOTHING will be re-named and the train has come off of the tracks! From Blogtown:
The council voted down Potter’s ordinance to rename Interstate, 3-2.Then Saltzman moved to table his ordinance for a “new process” so the council could rename 4th.
The council approved that—with several giving apologetic speeches on how renaming 4th was a “well meaning but misguided” idea.
Then, Saltzman moved to re-evaluate last week’s resolution to rename 4th—they did, and unanimously voted it down.
More on this wild development below the break.
Now this is huge, sudden news. Not the 3-2 on Interstate, but the unanimous turnaround on 4th. Talk about a stunning turn of events! Here's what the Oregonian had to say:
The Portland City Council pulled the plug on the entire Cesar Chavez street renaming debacle this morning."I can see no good reason to put the community through any more of what has become a dysfunctional debate," Commissioner Randy Leonard said.
The council voted unanimously to overturn its decision last week to rename Fourth Avenue in downtown for the farm labor leader and to take off the table a proposal to change the way the council makes street name changes. The council also voted 3-to-2 to reject Mayor Potter's earlier plan to rename North Interstate Avenue for Chavez.
I'm still trying to determine the exact breakdown of the 3-2 vote, or who voted with the Mayor on renaming Interstate.
This whole process has been absolutely bizarre, with wild twists and turns coming in every installment. And, the strange thing, is that it's all over a nearly-ceremonial renaming of a street. In the end, I'm left scratching my head. I really don't know what to think.
Beyond the strange turns to this episode, anyone want to comment on what the Council can do differently next time it decides to embark upon a name change? I'd say something about process, but that seems to be (in part) the problem. I guess this is just a foul-up all around, and, like the Council says, it's time to heal and move on. Perhaps we can successfully revisit the issue in the near future, but I wouldn't count on it being either pretty or quick. At this point, those are two words I imagine everyone involved will sacrifice for a peaceful, harmonious, eventual resolution.
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.I'd say something about process, but that seems to be (in part) the problem.
No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they DIDN'T follow the process. For that matter, I'd suggest adding MORE community-centered hurdles to the process. For example, perhaps we ought to require a vote of approval from every neighborhood association and business association that represents a portion of the affected area.
Every existing street has a name. The only time we should rename a street is when there's a traffic safety or wayfinding reason to do so (not sure what that would be) or when there's broad community support in that area to do it.
I still think it was gross when they renamed Front to Naito - before his body was even cold. And why? Because he was pals with the members of the Council.
Don't get me wrong: Bill Naito was a good man who was selfless in his work for our city - but if that's the only criteria, we'll be renaming streets around the clock.
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Kari has the right of it here. The way I read the situation (based on what I've seen from media) was that this all started when Mayor Tom promised a group that they could have something in a way that he really didn't have any right to do.
Maybe he's still burned over not becoming Curiously Strong Mayor. Are we now even more glad that that never happened? Based on this, you betcha!
I'll bet that, if they went about it using the perfectly fine process that we'd had installed after the MLK-Union imbroglio, then we just might have a Cesar Chavez Blvd today, or in the near future. Certainly racism is still a factor in Oregon life today, but I'm not convinced that Portlanders are that frightened of a brown planet. I certainly am not. If you live anywhere on the West Coast, what with our combination of cultural influences (Asian, Chinuk, Salish, Mexican, and on and on) and you still can't bear the thought that there are maybe some non-white people around, then you have pudding for brains.
The idea should have been "get everybody on board first, then go ahead", not "go ahead, and everyone else get out of the way", which is what it was. But this is the result you get when you push people around.
Of course, this all assumes that those in favor of the rename would have accepted "no" as an answer.
I agree that, from here on out, renaming a city street should be made more difficult. Best left alone, I think–no matter the name of the street, it turns out there's some history to it.
I'm also against renaming 42nd Avenue for Douglas Adams, for what that's worth.
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Hah! Good name!
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In the interests of disclosure, I did not come up with that; it was either Jack Bog or b!X, my memory fails me as to exactly who came up with that one.
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