Alexandria to take up its Confederate memorials tonight (VA)
Patricia Sullivan
September 8 at 10:50 AM
... There’s the matter of the city flying the Confederate flag twice a year in the public right of way. There’s the name of U.S. 1, otherwise known as Jefferson Davis Highway. More than 33 streets and a public elementary school are named after Confederate military leaders. A plaque at a prominent Old Town corner presents a skewed version of a shooting at the start of the Civil War. In the council chambers itself, a portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee silently watches the civic discourse, across the room from a portrait of George Washington ...
“While we’re a Southern town, this is a part of our history that should not be celebrated all these many years later,” Mayor William D. Euille (D) said in July. Euille is the first African American mayor in the city’s 266-year history. The other six members of the council agreed it is time to stop raising a rebel flag on public property ...
While the General Assembly named Jefferson Davis Highway in 1922, the stretch of the road in Alexandria was called River Road until the council changed it in 1952. The city attorney believes the council has the power under its charter to change the highway’s name again, but neighboring Arlington County does not have charter authority, so it would have to get approval from the legislature ...
The 1953 City Council renamed and renumbered many streets west of Old Town when it annexed what is now known as the West End. At the time, it established the protocol of naming north-south streets after Confederate military leaders, such as Gen. G.T. Beauregard, spy Frank Hume, Maj. Eli Hamilton Janney, Gen. Jubal Early and many more. In addition to the 33 streets known to be named after Southern military men, another 30 streets may have Confederate-related names ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/alexandria-to-take-up-its-confederate-memorials-at-council-tonight/2015/09/08/4f02bc0c-562b-11e5-b8c9-944725fcd3b9_story.html
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