After Paseo vote, Kansas City asks residents for ideas to honor Martin Luther King
Kansas City is once again accepting ideas for how to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., after voters decided overwhelmingly to remove King’s name from The Paseo.
Mayor Quinton Lucas, who championed renaming the street for King in January, announced Tuesday that the Parks and Recreation Board would spend the next 90 days collecting residents’ ideas on how to honor the civil rights leader.
Then the board will hold public meetings to evaluate the ideas, a press release said.
In the release, Lucas said the city must move forward together following last week’s election, where nearly 70 percent of voters decided to restore The Paseo and remove Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard signs.
“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. “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.”
That sits well with Tim Smith, a spokesman with Save The Paseo.
“I’m happy to see Mayor Quinton Lucas leading on this issue in an expeditious and thoughtful manner by moving forward on the mandate provided by voters last week and beginning the process of seeking community-wide input so that we may as a city arrive at the day when Dr. King is finally honored in Kansas City in a fashion befitting of his tremendous sacrifice for all Americans.” Smith said in a statement Tuesday.
Last week’s vote capped a year and a half of debate that also started at the parks board. The board, then made up of appointees of former Mayor Sly James, rebuffed an attempt by a group of East Side ministers who wanted to rename The Paseo for King. The parks board oversees the city’s boulevard system.
The ministers then began collecting signatures to put the issue on the August or November 2018 ballot, but fell short.
At the same time, James formed a citizens’ commission to hold public hearings and make recommendations on how to honor King. That commission recommended The Paseo as a third option, behind the forthcoming single terminal at Kansas City International Airport and 63rd Street.
Eventually, the City Council took up the issue, and — after significant debate and numerous delays — voted 8-4 to rename The Paseo for King. Weeks later, crews began installing the first signs along the boulevard, which must now be taken down.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 6:07 PM.
