From Deseret News archives:
W. Jordan names road for Rosa Parks
Street runs past city's new justice center, courthouse
The seven council members all voted in favor of renaming 8020 South, a short street that runs from Redwood Road past the city's new justice center and 3rd District Courthouse.
The renaming was proposed by Councilman Mike Kellermeyer to honor civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who made history in December 1955 when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala.
Parks died Oct. 24 at the age of 92.
Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake Branch NAACP, spoke before the council Tuesday in support of the proposal. She was joined by West Jordan members of the NAACP Youth Council, who stood alongside her and held signs reading, "It all started on a bus."
Quoting former Mayor Bryan Holladay from his earlier statements to the new mayor and councilwoman, who were sworn in Tuesday evening, Williams said, "What is good for the city is the right thing to do."
She also promised the NAACP's help in raising money "to make this dream a reality." The renaming itself will not require outside fund raising, but Kellermeyer wants to see a plaque honoring Parks eventually installed in or around either the justice center or the courthouse.
At a council meeting in November, Kellermeyer's proposal to look into renaming a street after Parks was tabled on a technicality — West Jordan, it turned out, did not have a clear policy in its ordinances for renaming streets. So the council instead voted to create a committee to look into creating such a policy.
But at Tuesday's meeting, Kellermeyer said naming the new, short street would not interfere with that committee's work.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com
