NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Minority Caucus of Metro Council and other Nashville community leaders are in support of a newly proposed ordinance to rename a portion of Fifth Avenue after the late U.S. Representative John Lewis.
The proposal was made earlier this month and if passed, Fifth Avenue would become Rep. John Lewis Way starting from the intersection at Coffee Street through downtown and ending at the Nashville City Cemetery.
Fifth Avenue was chosen because of the location of the Woolworth building, where Lewis and other activists led the historic lunch counter sit-ins which resulted in Nashville becoming the first southern city to begin desegregating public places.
On Monday, a group of community leaders and the Minority Caucus of Metro Council announced their support of the change:
- Councilmember At-Large Sharon Hurt
- Councilmember At-Large Zulfat Suara
- Councilmember At-Large Zulfat Suara
- Councilmember Kyonzte’ Toombs
- Councilmember Jennifer Gamble
- Councilmember Brandon Taylor
- Councilmember Tanaka Vercher
- Councilmember Delishia Porterfield
- Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda
- Councilmember Joy Styles
- Councilmember Antoinette Lee
- Tennessee Senator Brenda Gilmore
- Deputy Mayor Brenda Haywood
- Rita McDonald
- Greg Bailey
- Sam Reed
- Susan Allen Huggins
- Marie Sueing
- Tom Turner
- Tim Walker
- Vivian Wilhoite
A series of virtual meetings will be held in the coming weeks to discuss the potential street name change. For more information on those meetings, click here.
