Red Wolf or Red Wolves Boulevard? Resolution will be considered Tuesday
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Aug. 4, 2013
Changing the name of Stadium Boulevard will be considered Tuesday by the Jonesboro City Council’s Public Works Committee and then presumably by the full council.
The committee won’t spend much time on the issue. Its 5 p.m. meeting is planned to last only 20 minutes, with a public hearing on abandoning an easement set for 5:20 and the full council at 5:30. And the committee has 13 other items on its agenda, which also tells you something about the council’s agenda.
The Stadium name change was considered so non-controversial that it was originally slated for a special meeting of the committee on July 16. But when the proposal became public, it generated quite a bit of public comment, and the issue was delayed until the committee’s next meeting.
Specifically, the proposal, which comes in the form of a resolution, is to change the name of Stadium Boulevard to Red Wolves Boulevard — “as requested by Arkansas State University.”
Actually, the idea goes back at least as far as Feb. 25, when Mayor Harold Perrin wrote a letter to Walter McMillan, district engineer for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, asking if the city needed to get permission from the state to make the name change.
The mayor said he and his top aide, L.M. Duncan, were surveying businesses about the idea but added: “If I come up with too much resistance, I’m not for sure I want the city to do this.”
McMillan had no resistance, writing on March 4 that the state highway system is referenced by route and section numbers so it normally allows the city to name the section within its boundaries. He suggested advising the department if the change is made so guide signs could be changed on the highway interchanges.
There was apparently no public discussion of the proposal until July, when a Jonesboro Sun story detailed the possibility of a resolution being added to the July 16 council agenda as a “walk-on” — a last-minute item that hadn’t been considered first by the appropriate committee.
I wrote a column about the idea, saying basically that it had some merit but that it could be expensive for the businesses with Stadium Boulevard addresses. If they were for it, I would probably be for it, too. I also offered some possible alternatives in case the Stadiium Boulevard idea felll through.
Sometime along the way 53 businesses on Stadium were surveyed, and a listing attached to the Public Works agenda says that 49 were in favor, two were opposed and two could not be contacted.
One question remaining is exactly what the new name would be. The resolution says it would be Red Wolves Boulevard.
However, after my column was published, Jeff Hankins, vice president for strategic communications and economic development for ASU, sent me a copy of “Fast Facts Overview,” a document presenting the university’s arguments for the change.
Interestingly, the position paper says ASU wants the name to be changed to Red Wolf Boulevard — singular because it’s “more common use and more natural to say when giving verbal directions.” So perhaps the council committee’s first chore will be to get that straight.
One of my suggested alternatives was Red Wolf Drive, but a former university professor pointed out that there is already a Red Wolves Drive on the university campus. It’s the new road that connected the Marion Berry overpass with the recreational facilities between the railroad tracks. Actually, my Google map shows it as Red Wolf Trail so I’m not sure exactly what it is.
The overview also provides numerous examples of cities naming key roads after their hometown university’s mascot.
Among those examples one of the most compelling is Razorback Road, which is a main thoroughfare and state route running right by the University of Arkansas’ football stadium and other athletic facities. Some others are not as comparable. Sooner Drive is nowhere near University of Oklahoma athletic facilities. Tiger Lane is a short connecting street in front of the University of Memphis’ football stadium. Rebel Drive runs through the Ole Miss campus but not the athletic facilities.
Nevertheless, the ASU paper makes a strong argument, and the City Council, like most entities in Jonesboro, is filled with A-State supporters.
“The renaming idea emerged from ongoing conversations about how the future and well-being of both Jonesboro and A-State are linked,” the document says. “Leaders have explored ways to cooperate and collaborate.
“A-State is committed to promoting the City of Jonesboro as a great place to live and visit as part of its university marketing efforts. The Red Wolf Boulevard visibility on U.S. 63 would be more meaningful and effective than the Stadium name as we brand ourselves as a destination university.”
The fact sheet also argues that renaming other roads on campus would not have the same visual impact or reach as many people traveling to and around the campus. Certainly that’s a valid point. Stadium Drive has become a major route, not only to and from ASU but also for people traveling from one side of town to the other and headed for points north and south.
Whatever happens, issues like this one give us a not-too-serious diversion from more troublesome and complex ones.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.