Richmond Votes DOWN Proposal to Rename Street for Arthur Ashe

[zls44]

I can understand that they want to spend money rebuilding from Isabel...but.

You can bet $500 that if it was a proposal to change it to Robert E. Lee Boulevard, it'd pass 9-0.

http://espn.go.com/tennis/news/2003/0923/1622134.html

[Myra]

1. I doubt that anyone on the Richmond city council

Is fit to lick Arthur Ashe's tennis shoes.
He was one smart classy man.
God I miss him.
His voice, his face, his articulate conversation,
his bravery, poise, kindness, utter sincerity...

Fuck Richmond. They never deserved to
have his great name associated with them.

[Jennellist]

2. Issue isn't racial so much as financial

It would cost the city several hundred thousand dollars to create and erect street signs and other administrative alternations needed for the name change. In addition, all the businesses on Boulevard would have to change their letterheads, phone listings, stationery, etc. It is seen as a big expense and inconvenience for something whose value is questionable to many.

[Myra]

3. Yeah, right

They've been coming up with BS excuses
for years to keep from honoring a very
special native son. He was the first
african american tennis champ, and they're
racists. But the truth sounds bad.
It sounds much better to say it's the "cost."
An airport can be named after John Wayne
in CA, but a street can't be named after
Arthur Ashe in NC because of the..."cost."

[Jennellist]

5. Yep. You got it.

It's a cost issue.

[poppabear36]

4. Uber racist city

Richmond is hands-down the most unabashedly racist place I've ever lived.
My dad's tennis playing friends from Richmond in the 60's and 70's used to root against Ashe and call him "that Nigger."
Richmond is a Republican, Bush worshipping hell on earth.
It was Ashe's misfortune to be born there.

[cthrumatrix]

6. Ashe was a role model in life...and how he handled his illness.

Quite a classy guy.

[KoKo]

7. Last time I visted Richmond there was a Major Statue to Arthur Ashe.....in

the main "tree lined" promenade in Richmond.....But, I know Richmond is Repug...so never understood the Ashe thing unless it was a bone thrown to Dems by the rich Repugs...to quell race riots a some point.

Any Richomonders know Bill Goodwin and Jefferson Hotel? There's a real Repug hornet's nest!

[KoKo]

8. Any Native Richmond folks look at my post #5 about Goodwin!

If you know anything, please pass along......

[im4edwards]

9. much misinformation here

The mayor and much of its City Council and other leadership are black. The city votes overwhelmingly Dem for a generation or more.

Robt.E.Lee would never even be brought up as a namesake for this street.

We have honored Ashe with a mixed use sports facility and a statue on our Monument Ave. The other half dozen monuments are for Civil War figures and another native son Matthew Fontaine Maury.

There was quite a lot of disapproal from the businesses on The Boulivard, some of which are noteworthy (ACLU, Va Mueseum) for whom it would represent a hardship.

The other point of contention is the further notion of trying to gain some notariety at the expense of this native son. It is well known around here that Ashe thought very poorly of Richmond and considered himself a New Yorker. To continue to co-opt his name for publicity seemed "tacky" ( tacky means unpleasantly inappropriate for those not versed in "southern").

While Richmond was racist in Ashe's youth it is anything but now. The surrounding counties certainly are but the city would be hurt to hear it described as racist. It is heavily minority, large gay community, large Jewish community and as I pointed out earlier, heavily democratic. Also, being a university town, we have more then the usual amount of "culture" for a town our size.

I usually just poke around in here but thought I owed it to the city to try and clear this up.

[newyawker99]

10. Hi im4edwards!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[zls44]

11. K, im4

Thanks for clearing that up. I was unaware of the racial makeup of the council.