Report outlines framework for City of Austin to rename assets with names tied to Confederacy

Abigail Jones
·2 min read
13

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A memo sent to the Austin City Council and mayor from the city’s Equity Office provides a framework for renaming city assets with names that have ties to the Confederacy. Renaming those assets has been in talks for years.

The memo, sent from Interim Chief Equity Officer Tamela Saldaña, is a response to and report following a 2020 council resolution. That resolution “directed staff to support an educational process and collaborate with residents to identify City assets for renaming,” according to Saldaña’s memo.

Background

In July 2018, the Equity Office issued a memo in response to a 2017 resolution identifying assets slated for review, along with remedies like removal, interpretive signage, and renaming.

The Equity Office recommended council take action to rename streets and public assets that are identified in the list for “Assets Slated for Initial Review” and collaborate with residents to identify a person or other entity desired to be honored in the renaming of the asset, according to Saldaña’s memo.

Response

Saldaña’s memo said the Equity Office worked with community members, including the Equity Action Team, to identify alternative names for city-owned assets, and community input was encouraged through the SpeakUp Austin! web page that was launched in April 2022. The Equity Office made an online initial database of names that city departments are able to access while renaming city-owned assets.

The memo attached a final report by Dr. Theodore Francis (called Whose Streets? Our Streets! The Historical Documentation of Confederate-Named City Assets in Austin, Texas and Considerations for Their (Re-) Naming) which outlines framework for the city to utilize for the renaming process.

According to the memo, the framework consists of the categories of People, Place and Process that “explicitly considers the impacts of racism and racialized identities.”

The report cites the July 2022 renaming of Confederate Street to Maggie Mayes Street, and names three main assets to be considered for renaming: Plantation Road, Dixie Drive and Metz Park and Pool.

Renaming-City-Assets-Dedicated-to-the-Confederacy-and-White-Supremacy_1705946417Download

The memo and report can be viewed in full in the file above.

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