Two Little Rock residents have submitted an application to have the name of Confederate Boulevard changed.
At the earliest, the request could go before the Little Rock Planning Commission for a vote at the Sept. 24 meeting. If it is approved, it would then go to the city Board of Directors. Many city directors already have indicated support for the street name change.
City officials are still working to verify the signatures on a petition submitted on the measure, and to determine the number needed to get the application before the Planning Commission.
City policy requires that at least 50 percent of residents who would be affected by a street name change sign a petition supporting it for the request to be considered.
There are 30 addresses along Confederate Boulevard, according to city records, but the Planning and Development Department hasn't confirmed that all of the addresses are occupied.
Zoning and Subdivisions Manager Dana Carney is typically in charge of verifying such applications, but he was out of the office last week. The application was submitted Monday by Anika Whitfield and Gloria Springer.
Name-change requests are relatively rare, Planning and Development Director Tony Bozynski said.
"We've been trying to pull everything together. When Dana comes in Monday, we will sit down and say here's what we have. I just want to make sure that what we've done so far is right," Bozynski said.
The filing deadline to get the matter on the Planning Commission's Sept. 24 agenda is Aug. 17. The department usually waits until that deadline has passed before beginning its review process, Bozynski said.
Whitfield and Springer's application has 12 signatures, but one is a repeat and two others are for duplicate addresses, leaving just nine signatures that could be counted.
Confederate Boulevard is just a few blocks long. The majority of Confederate Boulevard was renamed in 1974 as Springer Boulevard in honor of the Rev. Horace Springer and his family.
The name-change petitioners are asking that those few remaining blocks of Confederate Boulevard also become Springer Boulevard.
Horace Springer moved to Little Rock in the 1920s and became one of the first black property owners in the Granite Mountain area. He and his sons started a mini-mall and encouraged development in the area by selling lots. The family also lobbied for the city bus line to extend there and then for city water service.
Springer "helped bring hope, economic growth and revitalization to the community," the cover letter submitted with the name-change application said.
Gloria Springer is the granddaughter of Horace Springer. She has said it is wrong that members of a black community, referring to the Granite Mountain neighborhood, must drive along Confederate Boulevard to get to and from their homes.
"The request comes as a longstanding appeal [since the 1970s] from neighbors living in the community along with other residents of Little Rock," the cover letter said.
Whitfield doesn't live in the area, but she said she's passionate about replacing the name of the street because the current name represents hatred and racial bias.
Some owners of businesses that have Confederate Boulevard addresses oppose the name change and say the street name represents heritage. They point out that the street name was derived from a Confederate veterans home that was once located there. Also, they say it will cost them time and money to change their addresses on brochures, business cards and various accounts.
It was business owners who successfully kept the short stretch of street from being renamed Springer in 1974.
H.F. Scruggs Inc. was one of the companies that opposed that name change. Owner David Scruggs Sr. said the business has had its 2920 Confederate Blvd. address since 1941.
He said he doesn't see anything controversial about the name, which serves as a historical marker for the old veterans home.
Whitfield and Gloria Springer began their efforts to change the name after a June 17 shooting in Charleston, S.C., that killed nine black church members. Witnesses reported that the white suspect in the case said: "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go," before shooting the church members.
The suspect also was seen in online photographs posing with a Confederate battle flag and other Civil War-era symbols.
Whitfield has said the name Confederate is a nod toward the Confederate Army that advocated for enslavement of black people.
Having the street named Springer would instead "honor a man who represents a history of positive and non-violent change in this community," the application cover letter said.
Metro on 08/02/2015