VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) – The City of Valdosta February 21, 2019 council meeting addressed an ongoing conflict regarding an ordinance for renaming city streets.

The ordinance has been updated due to continued efforts by members of the People’s Tribunal and others who wish to rename Forrest Street in favor of Barack Obama Boulevard.

There has been debate about who Forrest Street was named after, with suggestions that Confederate Army General and a founder of the Klu Klux Klan had been the inspiration.

Another group promoting racial justice group, the Mary Turner Project, recognized in 2014 that several street names were named for slave owners, in its original research.

This piqued the interest in city-wide name changes, and People’s Tribunal leader Reverend Floyd Rose told WABE.org that though this was the group’s first effort to change a street name, there would be others. “We want to do one at a time…We want Barack Obama’s name down first.” (https://www.wabe.org/valdosta-residents-want-to-rename-street-for-barack-obama/).

“The two streets that run north and south, the main roads through Valdosta are Patterson and Ashley Streets, and they both were Confederate veterans who were both slaveowners,” Rose told WABE.

Originally organizers said 51 percent of Forrest Street residents would be required to sign a petition supporting the change in order to bring the measure to the city council.

The petition did not satisfy what the council’s ordinance required, which prompted confusion and debate.

This new change is meant to clarify city street name change-dedicated petitions, emphasizing that only allow one signature per parcel is allowed.

The council members voted at the last meeting six (yay) to one (nay).

The update requires residents to meet with the council regarding street name changes and return any petitions within a 90-day period after which the council will have 15 days to approve or deny the change.