Leah Chase Circle (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Sparkle]

I am trying to track down a full list of the 34 proposed name changes but so far I've only found articles that have a handful. Maybe they will actually share the list with the public before voting but who knows.

Lee Circle would be Leah Chase Circle under official advice to rename New Orleans streets

Allen Toussaint, Tootie Montana also would get streets named in their honor

www.nola.com

Lee Circle would become Leah Chase Circle, giving the late chef and civil rights activist the place of public honor where the Confederate general's statue once presided over New Orleans, under preliminary recommendations put forward Tuesday by a City Council commission that offered up new names for almost three dozen streets and other locations associated with white supremacy.

The recommendations, which also include changing the name of Robert E. Lee Boulevard to honor musician Allen Toussaint and renaming Tulane Avenue for Mardi Gras Indian chief Allison “Tootie” Montana, mark the end of the first phase of a lengthy official review of street and place names throughout the city. The process was put in place by the City Council over the summer, as racial justice protests erupted throughout the country, with the aim of eliminating much of the city’s Confederate iconography in a single swoop.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

These all seem to be sound choices
But if I had my druthers I’d prefer we didn’t name streets/bldgs after people anymore
(Not sure what we’d use instead)

 

[DaveXA]

These all seem to be sound choices
But if I had my druthers I’d prefer we didn’t name streets/bldgs after people anymore
(Not sure what we’d use instead)

DC uses numbered and lettered streets. The quadrants are bordered with Capitol Streets. The diagonals are mostly state and city names.

 

[superchuck500]

These all seem to be sound choices
But if I had my druthers I’d prefer we didn’t name streets/bldgs after people anymore
(Not sure what we’d use instead)

Songs!

“I’ll be catching the parades at Cissy Strut Circle.”

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Songs!

“I’ll be catching the parades at Cissy Strut Circle.”

Knowing our city council theyd rename Jeff Davis “Basin Street Blues”

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Knowing our city council theyd rename Jeff Davis “Basin Street Blues”

I was fine with Lee Circle but I understand why it is about to go bye-bye.

But entrusting the naming of 34 new streets in one fell swoop to our current crop of City Councilpersons seems risky, at best.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

DC uses numbered and lettered streets. The quadrants are bordered with Capitol Streets. The diagonals are mostly state and city names.

I was thinking that, but I think those are only practical on a grid - inNYC it gets really confusing in the west village bc the island starts ‘pinching’ down to the point and the former right angles start becoming hypotenuses
I think we’d have even more of an issue with the street that run ‘parallel’ to the river

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I was fine with Lee Circle but I understand why it is about to go bye-bye.

But entrusting the naming of 34 new streets in one fell swoop to our current crop of City Councilpersons seems risky, at best.

I am certain that none of the previous CCs was better suited to name (which is why we’re renaming, seemingly)
In theory I’d be ok with reviewing names every 20-25 years - I know we won’t, but...

 

[rob22278]

It has been argued that Lee and Davis, besides being traitors, were never associated with the city. And I have no problem with that.
But Paul Tulane made substantial monetary and land donations that advanced the entire higher education and hospital system in the city at a time when those entities were in danger of completely shutting down.
Yes I realize he was a supporter of the confederacy but can’t that be placed in context?

 

[SaintJ]

It has been argued that Lee and Davis, besides being traitors, were never associated with the city. And I have no problem with that.
But Paul Tulane made substantial monetary and land donations that advanced the entire higher education and hospital system in the city at a time when those entities were in danger of completely shutting down.
Yes I realize he was a supporter of the confederacy but can’t that be placed in context?

I completely agree with taking down statues and changing names. The best broad-brush principle I've seen is "we can consider celebrating people despite slavery, but we're not going to celebrate people because of slavery."

You could argue that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington did a number of amazing things to found the country, so you could honor their accomplishments while also not minizing the negatives of their slave ownership. Otherwise, you're pretty much left with John Adams and William Penn; maybe you throw in Franklin, a former slaveowner who later a became an abolitionist.

There is no reason to honor any Confederate leaders -- and to me that includes Lee, who abandoned his commission and took up arms against his own country, and he should have been hung as a traitor. I'd change the name of any street named after a Confederate general or politician.

To me that leans in favor of keeping Tulane, FWIW.

I'm OK with Leah Chase Circle -- you are celebrating New Orleans cooking, and it's "soul", if you will. in a big way.

Or Morphy Circle, with a giant chess king atop the pedestal.

Maybe Edith Rosenwald Stern keeps everybody happy -- a powerful advocate for civil rights and a generous patron of the arts and education, putting in her personal efforts as well as just cutting checks, one of the most influential women in the city's history.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

It has been argued that Lee and Davis, besides being traitors, were never associated with the city. And I have no problem with that.
But Paul Tulane made substantial monetary and land donations that advanced the entire higher education and hospital system in the city at a time when those entities were in danger of completely shutting down.
Yes I realize he was a supporter of the confederacy but can’t that be placed in context?

Otoh, what’s wrong with saying’we honored him for __ number of years, and now it’s someone else’s turn’?

 

[rob22278]

Otoh, what’s wrong with saying’we honored him for __ number of years, and now it’s someone else’s turn’?

Why does it have to be mutually exclusive?

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Why does it have to be mutually exclusive?

Well theoretically there are no streets waiting to be named
So that means we have to change names
‘Get rid of the names associated with the confederacy’ seems an ok metric
To apply your metric of ‘he wasn’t all bad’ means that he gets to stay over someone who might be deserving of recognition
Tulane had a run, now someone else gets to have their name recognized
That seems appropriate

 

[DaveXA]

Well theoretically there are no streets waiting to be named
So that means we have to change names
‘Get rid of the names associated with the confederacy’ seems an ok metric
To apply your metric of ‘he wasn’t all bad’ means that he gets to stay over someone who might be deserving of recognition
Tulane had a run, now someone else gets to have their name recognized
That seems appropriate

I keep thinking of U2's "where the streets have no name"

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I keep thinking of U2's "where the streets have no name"

You missed the opportunity for “where the streets have N.O. names”

happy thanksgiving nonetheless