CINCINNATI — Cincinnati City Council voted Wednesday to approve research efforts into determining the overall cost of changing the name of McMicken Avenue.
The motion, filed by council member Jeff Pastor, has been hotly contested, with one side insisting slave owners should not be honored and the other side expressing concern over where a line could be drawn in erasing American history.
"I don't want my neighbors, my colleagues, my constituents to feel the sort of trauma and shock and hostility of the ugliest parts of our history," said Pastor.
Council member Amy Murray is the only city council member who abstained from voting on Wednesday.
Council member Chris Seelbach said he supports Pastor's motion, but he wants the cost noted in a feasibility study.
"When you change a street name all together there is expenses for the people that live on the street," said Seelbach. "They have to change the deeds and other legal documents."
Next steps for the motion will be for city staff to sit down and determine the cost associated with a name change. That report will be submitted to the council at a future date.
