City planners recommend Centennial be renamed as MLK Jr. Boulevard.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Bruce Chase had lived there for more than 25 years when his rural road between the cities of Eugene and Springfield was named Centennial Boulevard back in 1959, in honor of Oregon's first 100 years of statehood.

Until Tuesday night, he found it a fitting commemorative.

"It has some historical importance in my life, but tonight it appears pretty small and selfish," Chase said after a dozen speakers had made impassioned statements to the Eugene Planning Commission in favor of renaming the boulevard to honor slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Chase - who lived on his Centennial Boulevard farm for 69 years in all - had signed up Tuesday night to speak against the renaming.

He instead told planning commission members he was convinced by the earlier testimony of Ed Coleman, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Oregon and a grandfatherly figure in the local African-American community.

"Ed has changed my mind on a lot of things through the years," Chase said.

"And if in fact (renaming the street) could heal some of the conflict in our community, I guess I'd have to support it."

Planning commission members voted unanimously to pass the matter on to the Eugene City Council with the recommendation that Centennial be renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

If it is approved by the council this summer, Eugene would join more than 500 other communities around the country that have named streets in honor of King.

"This is long past due," commission President Adell McMillan said just before the vote.

"In fact, I'm a bit embarrassed that some of us haven't done something long before now."

There was some discussion among speakers of alternatives - renaming Belt Line Road, Delta Highway or the Ferry Street Bridge - instead of Centennial Boulevard.

Planning commission member Jon Belcher even suggested facetiously that nose-thumbing the city fathers by renaming Country Club Road might prove strangely satisfying.

But in the end, it was the say-so of Eugene's black community that mattered.

And those in attendance Tuesday night spoke in a single voice in favor of renaming Centennial - from local NAACP President Marilyn Mays and Lane County Commissioner Bobby Green to longtime activists such as Mark Harris, Henry Luvert and Coleman, whose words drew the most raucous applause.

Coleman urged Eugene officials to embrace the opportunity to "be associated with a man the whole world admired."

He asked officials show some backbone by ignoring the pleas of those who have complained the name change would cause inconvenience or confusion.

"Let us show our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that we have nothing to fear, to make this honorable change," Coleman said.

"Rev. King said that he had conquered the fear of death. Can't we conquer the fear to change a major boulevard in his honor?"

Other than one person, Brent DeGreene, who said he believes that King is "over-commemorated in this country," even the handful of speakers who testified against the Centennial renaming were supportive of finding a way for Eugene to permanently honor the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Two members of the Masonic Lodge on Centennial Boulevard and another man who lives in a nearby neighborhood each said Eugene's portion of the roadway is too short and underutilized to properly pay homage to King.

Marl Carter of Staff Jennings Boating Center and Bob Melnick of Mercedes of Eugene - each business located on Centennial Boulevard - suggested renaming something that wouldn't require address changes for current residents or merchants.

"If Centennial Boulevard is your choice, we'll go with that," Melnick said. "But there really are some better options."

Belcher, the planning commission member, acknowledged that 202 addresses - including those of 186 apartment residents - will have to be changed if the boulevard is renamed.

And commission member John Lawless pointed out that unless Springfield officials follow suit and rename the portion of Centennial that runs through their city, the roadway would be "segmented" and any message to the combined community blunted.

Springfield has not started the process to rename its portion of the road.

"To have the symbol be in contention and be incomplete is just very troubling to me," Lawless said.

But commissioner member Mitzi Colbath said the planning commission's task Tuesday night was straightforward, and did not include consideration of alternatives or contingencies.

"That's not our job here tonight," Colbath said.

"I think it's our job to forward a recommendation (to the city council), and I'm going to support it for that reason."

CAPTION(S):

Bruce Chase was persuaded to support the name change. "I'm a bit embarrassed that some of us haven't done something long before now." - ADELL McMILLAN, COMMISSION PRESIDENT