20200622-03A2: Equity in Renaming — original pdf

Recommendation

COMMISSION FOR WOMEN RECOMMENDATION 20200622-03A2 Date: June 22, 2020 Subject: Equity in Renaming Motioned By: Sarah Tober Seconded By: Tanya Athar-Jogee Recommendation to Council WHEREAS, the Commission for Women (“Commission”) of the City of Austin (“City”) serves as an advisory body to the City Council (“Council”) and City Manager concerning the needs and problems of women in the Austin area and shall recommend programs designed to alleviate any inequities that may confront women in social, economic and vocational pursuits; and WHEREAS, on March 23, 2017 the Council passed Resolution No. 20170323-054 (“Resolution”), calling upon the Commission to offer recommendations concerning disparities in Austin between streets named after men and those names after women, and appropriate measures to eliminate those disparities; and WHEREAS, the commission thrice responded to the Resolution on August 31, 2017 with Recommendation 20170831-002A: Renaming of Robert E. Lee Road (“First Recommendation”); on October 11, 2017 with Recommendation 20171011-05B: Equity in Naming of Public Symbols (“Second Recommendation”); and on August 24, 2018 with Recommendation 20180824-03b: Renaming of Streets (“Third Recommendation”), identifying streets and other City assets named for Confederate soldiers and ideals, segregationists, racists and asked the City to review and rename these assets; and WHEREAS, the City’s Equity Office also provided the City in 2018 with a list of assets to be renamed, in accordance with the Confederates Monuments Resolution No. 20171005-031 (“Report”) with one asset (Metz Recreation Center) from the Report currently in the process of being renamed; and WHEREAS, there is precedence for renaming assets, including changing the name of the Congress Avenue Bridge to the Ann Richards Bridge in 2006 to honor former governor Ann Richards; and changing Town Lake to Lady Bird Lake in 2007 to honor former first lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson; Changing Robert E. Lee Road to honor former U.S. treasurer Azie Taylor Morton; and changing Jeff David Avenue to honor former Travis County Commissioner William Holland; and 1 WHEREAS, the City of Austin should not continue to honor Confederate soldiers and ideals, segregationists, and racists; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Commission recommends renaming: 1. The assets identified as a priority in the Report, including Littlefield Street, Tom Green Street, Sneed Cove, Reagan Hill Drive, Dixie Drive, Confederate Avenue and Plantation Road; Fort Sumter Road and 2. The following neighboring streets in District 5: a. Hood Circle (Confederate General John Bell Hood) b. Beauregard Circle (Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard) c. Manassas Drive (Confederate name for the Battles of Bull Run) d. Dowling Cove (Confederate Soldier Richard Dowling) e. Dixon Drive (Confederate Soldier George E. Dixon) f. Neighborhood also includes the following streets named for Civil War Battles: Shiloh Drive, Appomattox Drive, Malvern Hill Drive, Stone River Drive, Seminary Ridge Drive, Gettysburg Drive and aforementioned Fort Sumter Road. 3. Shipe Park and Pool in Hyde Park. This park and pool is named for Monroe Shipe, who developed Hyde Park, and did not allow African Americans to live there, and who also used the 1928 city plan to force segregation along the East-West divide in Austin, including forcing African Americans to leave neighborhoods such as Clarksville. 4. Pease Street and Park. Both are named for (Elisha M.) Pease, a slave owner. The Park itself is a former plantation. 5. Waller Beach at Town Lake Metropolitan Park; Waller Street; Waller Creek; Waller Creek Greenbelt; and Waller Creek Greenbelt Neches Easement. These assets are named for Edwin Waller, who along with being a slave owner, signed Texas’ secession papers in 1861. 6. Barton Springs; William Barton Drive; Barton Creek; Barton Creek Greenbelt; Barton Creek Wilderness Park; and Barton Hills School Park, named for William Barton and family, slave owners 7. Lamar Boulevard and Mirabeau Street; Lamar Beach at Town Lake Metropolitan Park; Lamar Senior Activity Center. Assets are named for Mirabeau Lamar, slave owner. 8. Streets identified in the report as secondary assets, including a. Bouldin Avenue and Creek (James Bouldin, slave owner) b. Burnet Road and Lane c. Stephen F. Austin Drive d. Duval Road e. Burleson Road f. Oliphant Street g. Lanier Drive (Confederate Soldier Sidney Lanier) 9. Any other asset that is identified as honoring Confederate soldiers and ideals, segregationists, and racists. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Commission recommends the City work with the Equity Office, the Parks and Recreation Department, or a proxy such as a conservancy group, many of which have had past financial exchanges with the City, to identify 2 ways to tell the stories of women; black, indigenous and people of color; or other marginalized groups through the naming of public symbols, the addition of historical markers or educational plaques, monuments or other means, to ensure that a diverse history of the City is told, and thus supporting the Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s mission to “create diverse programs and experiences” in public spaces. Date of Approval: June 22, 2020 Record of the vote: Unanimous on a 6-0-1 vote, with one commissioner off the dais, two commissioners absent, and two districts vacant. Attest: April E. Shaw April Shaw, Staff Liaison 3