ATLANTA – The Atlanta City Council has approved plans to change the name of Confederate Avenue in Grant Park to United Ave. The resolution will now go to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for approval.
The move comes nearly one year after the city pledged to get rid of memorials dedicated to the confederacy, in the wake of last year’s deadly neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Atlanta City Council voted on changing the name of Confederate Avenue after lengthy public comment on the issue.
The meeting was heated at times, where more than two dozen residents spoke out strongly for and against renaming the avenue.
The public hearing opened with David Moreland, who wanted to hold true to his Confederate history.
"This thing that someone has contrived that everything to be Confederate to be some Nazi group or some hate group, it sickens me to my very core," he stated in the council chambers.
But others fired back, saying it sends the next generation the wrong message, and speaks to a racist past that tore the country apart.
"I can't imagine my 8-month-old son growing up and our tax dollars continuing to maintaining roads named after those that sought to destroy our union," one resident countered.
Those who opposed the name change also cited cost concerns -- the price tag for each sign change was about $250 each.
So far, the committee found more than 30 streets with names connected to Confederate figures.
No word yet on when Mayor Bottoms plans to consider the resolution to officially rename Confederate Avenue.
