08/08/2008

Associated Press

Commissioner Sam Adams, who takes over as mayor next year, has set aside $35,000 from the city's transportation budget to hire consultants to help vet any street renaming proposals.

Adams says the money will be well spent if it helps Portland avoid the kind of fight that erupted last year, when Latino activists, backed by current Mayor Tom Potter, tried to get the City Council to rename Interstate Avenue after labor leader Cesar Chavez.

The months of debate revealed deep divisions within Portland, with opponents of the name change saying they were unfairly tarred as racist.

Besides setting aside the money for consultants, Adams plans to ask his colleagues next week to affirm a five-step process designed to give neighbors of any street up for renaming as much say as possible.

"Regardless of who applies and what street they pick and whatever person they're trying to honor, street renamings are one of the most controversial tasks in any city," Adams said. "We know this is going to be controversial. But the process itself shouldn't be."

The city code details a lengthy test for renaming streets, implemented in 1989 in response to the effort to turn Union Avenue into Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Last year, however, City Council members ignored the code in their rush to honor Chavez.

When neighborhood opposition to the name change proved fiercer than expected, city commissioners began looking for compromises. But the supporters rejected anything but Interstate, and no alternative could muster a council majority before the whole thing was dropped in November.

Adams wants the council to follow the process established in 1989, but with a few extra steps, such as having a panel of historians review the name.

Advocates for a Cesar Chavez street plan to renew their effort, and have already met with the mayor-elect.

A group of science fiction fans, meanwhile, applied to change the name of 42nd Avenue to honor the late Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy."

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com