Mayor seeks ideas from public to honor MLK Jr. after voters remove his name from historic street

Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Quinton Lucas announced Tuesday that the city’s parks board will accept public comment for ideas to honor Martin Luther King Jr., after voters last week decided to remove his name from a historic boulevard.

Lucas said residents should submit their ideas within 90 days and the city will consider the suggestions, according to The Associated Press.

The move comes after voters in Kansas City last week overwhelmingly decided to remove King’s name from The Paseo Boulevard, a historic street that runs for miles through the city.

{mosads}The vote took place less than a year after the City Council had voted to change the street’s name to honor the civil rights leader.

“While many people of good heart believed renaming The Paseo Boulevard was a fitting honor, many others of good heart felt that other approaches were more appropriate,” Lucas said in a news release. “What we heard more clearly from the election, however, was that most voters were frustrated by the process used to craft the original name change.”

The proposal made its way onto the ballot after several Kansas City residents pushed to restore the street’s original name. 

Those who opposed removing King’s name from the boulevard accused supporters of the measure of being racist.

The 10-mile stretch of the boulevard runs north to south through a largely black area of the city.

Lucas said after the public comments period closes, the Parks and Recreation Board will hold public meetings to evaluate ideas for a new way to honor the civil rights icon.

He acknowledged that the vote to remove King’s name showed residents were frustrated with the process that led to his name replacing The Paseo, the AP noted.