Caraway Leads Rally To Rename Lancaster Road

By JOSHUA C. JOHNSON
Dallas Post Tribune

Mandela Boulevard could take some getting used to for some Dallas residents, but it may be the new name a major thoroughfare in Oak Cliff if Dallas City Council member Dwaine Caraway has anything to say about it.

Lancaster Road could soon be renamed Nelson Mandela Boulevard.

Caraway has launched an effort to change the name of Lancaster Road to honor the late South African president and apartheid opponent. Caraway, whose district includes part of Lancaster Road, called it an opportunity to put southern Dallas on the “global map.”

As proposed, the change would apply to all of Lancaster Road that’s in Dallas. The city code says a street can’t be named for someone who hasn’t been dead for at least two years; Mandela died Dec. 5. And there’s a 14-character limit; police and fire department dispatchers, among others, prefer shorter street names. However, the City Council can waive both of those requirements with a three-fourths vote.

A committee of the Dallas Plan Commission will consider the idea this week. The full commission and the City Council would both have to vote for the name change for it to take effect. There have been mixed reviews on the name change among Oak Cliff residents.

“Go for it! What a positive expression…” Said Joyce Jones.

Others weren’t exactly opposed to renaming the 6-mile stretch from Illinois Avenue on the north to the city limit south of Interstate 20. “Not against renaming Lancaster Rd….but what about renaming it with a local leader? Someone that’s been a long-term pillar of the southern sector or southern Dallas,” said Barbara Police. South Lancaster Road is home to institutions including the Dallas VA Medical Center and Rudy’s Chicken. The DART Blue Line runs down its middle.

Kiyundra Gulley, president of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, said it’s too early to predict the general reception. She said some people share Caraway’s enthusiasm for a Mandela Boulevard. But some merchants are sure to grumble about having to get new stationery, business cards, mailing labels and so forth – to say nothing of having to explain to customers and suppliers, at least at first, where Mandela Boulevard is. “We’ve heard a little bit of both,” Gulley said.

The name’s origin is straightforward enough: It was the road to Lancaster. (In Lancaster, the same thoroughfare is the road to Dallas, and it’s named Dallas Avenue.) Lancaster City Manager Opal Mauldin Robertson says there are no immediate plans to change any names on her side of the road; but hasn’t ruled anything out. “Dallas Avenue is a state highway so no discussions have taken place at this time,” she said.

Caraway said the name would inspire children in the predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods around the road. He also noted that there would be a Mandela exit off I-20, so even interstate motorists just passing through would know that Dallas had honored the South African’s memory.

It remains to be seen what kind of support Caraway’s idea will have, or what opposition it will draw.