CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A compromise has been reached in regards to the debate of renaming Charleston’s Court Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The City of Charleston Planning, Streets and Traffic Committee passed through the compromise at a meeting Monday night that could give Court Street the honorary, unofficial name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
After the six votes in favor and one abstaining vote in the committee meeting, the compromise will go up for a vote at the next city council meeting on January 6.
“This would not change any mailing addresses or anything like that,” Jennifer Pharr, Charleston City Councilmember at-large told MetroNews.
“It would have honorary name signage that would say the official name was Court Street but the honorary unofficial name would be Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.”
In early December, the Charleston Municipal Planning Commission approved changing the name after a public hearing and it went to the Planning, Streets and Traffic Commission.
Pharr said the compromise was reached on Sunday night in a meeting of the minds from those that were for and against a complete name change.
Kitty Dooley, the applicant of the petition to rename, led discussion that included numerous religious leaders in Charleston that are or have been apart of Court Street during the Triangle District era.
Leaders at the meeting included Pastor Letari Thompson of Metropolitan Baptist Church, Rabbi Victor Urecki, longtime rabbi and spiritual leader with the B’nai Jacob Synagogue, Pastor Marlon Collins of Shiloh Baptist Church, Father Joseph Hazar of St. George Orthodox Cathedral, YWCA CEO Deb Weinstein, Rev. John Silvia of St. Paul AME, local historian Anthony Kinzer, Rev. Ronald English former pastor of First Baptist Church, councilmember Mary Beth Hoover, Dooley, and Pharr.
Pharr said it was a productive meeting where some church leaders spoke for their parishioners on the importance of the Court Street name.
“‘Court Street has sentimental value to us,’” Pharr said of what she heard from others. “‘It’s the only thing that truly has remained that we could say when we lived on the Triangle District, it was on Court Street.’ So it had a sentimental attachment, not just to those who are members of St. George but to members at Shiloh, members at Metropolitan.”
The application for rename was submitted on November 11 and controversy erupted over the proposal. Court Street is heavily trafficked and houses Charleston City Hall, the Kanawha County Courthouse, Kanawha County Magistrate Court, and other local fixtures.
So why that street to rename?
“We didn’t want to touch any of the state streets because it is very involved,” Pharr said. “The only street that didn’t have a connection to a founder of Charleston was Court Street.
“Court Street just happens to be where the epicenter of justice is for Kanawha County. Martin Luther King stands for fairness, equality and justice, and it runs by the Martin Luther King Center.”
While Pharr said the compromise fulfills all sides, she left open the possibility of a complete change to Dr. King to a street in Charleston in the future.
“Some of the speakers did say they still wanted to have a street dedicate to him,” she said. “Is that something that I have on my agenda currently? No. Is it something that I think others have? I don’t know. I think that this was the best compromise.”
Story by Jake Flatley