Jackson Free Press

The Jackson City Council will likely adopt a new ordinance tomorrow that will change requirements for residents to rename city streets and municipal buildings for the third time this year.

In April, the council voted to remove the requirement stating that 75 percent of property owners within 150 feet of a public facility or street approve changing a street or facility's name by signing a petition. Council members Kenneth Stokes, Frank Bluntson and Chokwe Lumumba lobbied for the removal of the 75 percent petition requirement, arguing that the petition was a tool to discourage the renaming of streets and public buildings.

Stokes, who chairs the council's planning committee, put a rush to remove the petition requirement in April in an effort to rename two Jackson streets after Jackson resident Dr. Robert Smith and former Jim Hill High School coach Fred Harris within a two week time frame. Stokes said the senior class at Jim Hill wanted to honor Harris, who died in July 2009, before its May 30 graduation, and believed the petition removal would speed the process.

Stokes is also the leading voice behind a flurry of street and facility name changes, one of which included a controversial move to rename a library on Northside Drive after former Jackson Advocate Publisher Charles Tisdale, who died in 2007. Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill, whose represenation includes the library, supported naming the building after author Ellen Douglas, in accord with the wishes of literary advocate group Jackson Friends of the Library. This week, Stokes is also introducing two ordinances that would rename Airport Drive to Sam Jones Jr. Drive, and Amite Street to John M. Perkins Drive after the founder of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development.

In a separate issue, the city is eying an expansion of Lynch Street this week. The council will vote on whether to support the mayor's desire to submit an application for a federal grant for the reconstruction and widening of Lynch Street from Highway 18 to Highway 80.

The application to the U.S. Department of Transportation is the continuation of a 1997 endeavor by the city to improve the section of Lynch Street that runs parallel to the Illinois Central Railroad behind the Metrocenter Mall and Saks Inc. Operations Center on Hwy 80.

"It will make a huge difference to the area," said Metrocenter Area Coalition Executive Director Nina Holbrook. "You've got the Dillard's store and the Sears store in the back of the (Metrocenter) mall. That's a corridor that would become very active. It would also make a lot of difference with Saks. They don't even use their back entrance because it's just not very appealing back there. They use the front entrance only. It would also make a huge difference to Puckett (Machinery Company) and to that shopping center over there at Home Depot."

Holbrook said the original plan from 1997 called for widening Lynch Street into a four-lane road with a median, and would also reconstruct the Hwy 18/Lynch Street interchange, but city spokesman Chris Mims said the plan is still in its design phase and could change before the design is completed in the 22011 budget year. Mims said the $32 million grant requires $8 million in matching funds from the city.

The street improvement would help in a recent push by Jackson developer David Watkins to house two government offices inside the Metrocenter, and add a movie theater, a food court and condominiums to the Metrocenter property. Watkins proposed the Jackson Public School District move its administrative offices to the Metrocenter to the top floor of the empty Belk anchor store. The District is still considering his proposal. Meanwhile, Watkins proposes a state agency occupy the bottom floor.

Mims added that the grant is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009, geared to fund projects that provide transportation improvement as a means of generating economic recovery.

Previous Commentsshow

It's already hard enough to find one's way in Jackson, since so many streets do not have signs... and if we keep renaming streets, NO ONE will be able to find their way! If someone wants to honor someone, name something new after that individual, rather than confusing everyone by changing a familiar name. Perhaps the City Council should find more productive ways to spend their time....

theatrediva

Aug 23 2010

Seriously. Is this how the city council should be spending our money and thier time? How much does it cost to change a street name? How much time is wasted in administration? Come on guys, there are better things we could be doing!

speedyrev

Aug 23 2010

Simple solution. In New York City many streets have more than one name. A Postal name, and a ceremonial name. The most famous, and probably the oldest is the designation of Sixth Ave in Manhattan also being called and labeled as the "Ave of the America's" In my old neighborhood in Queens "New York Blvd" has two ceremonial names to honor recent community organizers and activists. Since I can't quote them accurately, I won't cite them. The expense for a ceremonial naming is simply the production and installation of the street signs, No Postal addresses would be changed. This could be an instant way to honor prominent Jackson citizen's with a ceremonial street naming, and the proposed ordinance could still be used to change the Postal street name. I think this has already been done on Newport Street in NW Jackson,where a prominant blues muscian was honored with a placque? As for this being a wasted excercise I suppose that depends on your point of view and sensitivity to Jackson's history.

FrankMickens

Aug 24 2010

Simpler solution- Don't change the names at all.

BubbaT

Aug 24 2010

Change equals progress. If Kenny Stokes is behind it, then it's a good idea.

Walt

Aug 24 2010

I like how Miami, Detroit and Chicgo do it? N.W. 54th Street, 72nd and Stony Island, 8 mile, 7 mile - lol!!!!! Numbered streets and keep it moving. I know quite a few will be upset with me on this, but I don't think Frank Melton should have a street named after him? God rest his soul - but the main question would be, where did the city progress under his leadership? He deserves to have his portrait up, because he earned that right, but a street named after him? You might as well name streets after all the mayors that have held office since it inception then, just to be fair about it.

Duan C.

Aug 25 2010

Walt, I sincerely hope that your comment "If Kenny Stokes is behind it, it must be a good idea" was tongue-in-cheek. Kenneth Stokes' behavior has been embarassing this city for far too long now for anything he suggests to be taken seriously.

theatrediva

Aug 25 2010