MLK deliberations inch forward

Airport Road soon will know the fate of its identity.

A facilitator group recently established a schedule of meetings that will lead to a final decision on whether or not the road's name should be changed to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

The town has hired four people from Open Source Leadership Strategies Inc. to facilitate the discussion of renaming Airport Road. Though contracts have not yet been completed, Assistant Town Manager Bruce Heflin said the facilitator group will be paid $15,000.

"We solicited applications from anyone who was interested, and we thought that this group was most likely to accomplish what we needed to accomplish," said Emily Dickens, mayoral assistant.

The group has set two all-day sessions, on Nov. 5 and 6, followed by a half-day session on Nov. 20 for discussions among members of the Special Committee to Consider Renaming Airport Road. The committee will present its final recommendation Dec. 6 to the Chapel Hill Town Council.

"(The facilitators) felt that it was important we had a concise period of time in which we could hammer out issues," Mayor Kevin Foy said.

The council was petitioned in January by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to rename the road in honor of King.

After a series of public hearings, the council voted to form a special committee to discuss the proposal and report back to the council. Committee members were appointed Sept. 13.

Of the 17 citizen committee members, 13 have confirmed their attendance at the meetings. One member said he could not make the meetings, and three have yet to respond.

"(The schedule) was done by someone who definitely needs to have their head examined," said committee member and Airport Road resident Darren Thompson.

Thompson plans to inform Foy that he will no longer be able to serve on the committee.

Members of the committee must be able to make all three sessions, or they will be replaced, said Amy Harvey, assistant town clerk.

"More than likely, the council will appoint replacements from the applicants we have on file," she said.

The council received more than 60 applications.

Opinions vary among members of the committee about the way the meeting schedule has been set up.

Fitzhugh Brundage, an original committee member and a UNC history professor, will not be able to attend the meetings because of a conference.

"Rather than the schedule being dictated by participating members, it's being dictated by a facilitator who is being paid for with tax payers' money," Brundage said.

He added that the meeting schedule imposes a hardship on people who work day jobs.

Local business owner Bruce Johnson preferred the original plan set forth by the council - assembling the committee for two hours on Thursdays. He has not decided whether or not he will be able to attend the meetings.

"I think those three days is going to pin you down where you're not going to be able to think about what was said," Johnson said.

But other committee members like the structure for the meetings.

"I think sometimes if you meet for just an hour, two hours, some people just won't be heard," said Ashley Osment, a committee member from the local chapter of the NAACP.

Tom Jensen, one of two University students on the committee, said he does not have a problem attending the three meetings. "In sessions that intensive, we have no choice but to be productive."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.