Cleveland Residents Not Advised

Several residents of Cleveland Avenue have registrered disapproval of the name change of that street to Rosa Parks Avenue through a petition presented to the city council of Montgomery.

As residents and property owners on that street, they felt that they should have been polled extensively to determine their input on the matter. One council person involved, Mr. Joseph Dickerson, took a very negative approach to the desires of his elderly constituents by referring to them as “a few little people” who were not for him at the beginning of his campaign.

He also said that they were jealous because he did no go to each of them personally with the idea. In my conversations with him on several occasions, he justified his action by using the old technique of trying to pit me against whites. His words to me were “you know these white folks don’t want no street named after a black women so I had to do this when I could. You know I tried to get Oak Street named for her and failed.”

He showed no compassion or obligation for the inconvenience that such a drastic change would cause elderly people like my mother, on whose behalf I am writing this letter. She has lived in one spot on Cleveland Avenue for about 75 years or more.

Mr. Dickerson accomplished the name change at the expense of democratic principles. His reaction to criticism from his constituents who found out about the impending ordinance only through the news media were: “There’s nothing you can do about it but come to the celebration,” and “You can see me in court.”

This case is clearly another classic example of the clandestineness of the Montgomery City Council. This sort of thing is grossly unjust. Montgomerians are too intelligent to be ruled without their consent.

LILIAN WILSON HILL, Montgomery