Kansas City Votes to Remove Martin Luther King Jr.'s Name from Historic Street

Kansas City, Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved removing Dr. Martin Luther King's name from one of the city's most historic boulevards, less than a year after the city council decided to rename The Paseo for the civil rights icon.

The proposal to remove King's name received nearly 70% of the vote, with just over 30% voting to retain King's name.

The debate over the name of the 10-mile (16.1 kilometer) boulevard on the city's mostly black east side began shortly after the council's decision in January to rename The Paseo for King. Civil rights leaders who pushed for the change celebrated when the street signs went up, believing they had finally won a decades-long battle to honor King, which appeared to end Kansas City's reputation as one of the largest U.S. cities in the country without a street named for him.

But a group of residents intent on keeping The Paseo name began collecting petitions to put the name change on the ballot and achieved that goal in April. Flora Waddell and her family built their home on The Paseo nearly 50 years ago. She believes The Paseo has historic value and says people who live there weren't consulted before the city council voted to change its name earlier this year.

The campaign has been divisive, with supporters of King's name accusing opponents of being racist, while supporters of The Paseo name say city leaders pushed the name change through without following proper procedures and ignored The Paseo's historic value.

Many supporters of the Martin Luther King name suggested the opponents are racist, saying Save The Paseo is a mostly white group and that many of its members don't live on the street, which runs north to south through a largely black area of the city. They said removing the name would send a negative image of Kansas City to the rest of the world, and could hurt business and tourism.

Supporters of the Paseo name rejected the allegations of racism, saying they have respect for King and want the city to find a way to honor him.

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