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Will Hollywood Change Confederate-Named Streets?

The city of Hollywood has been grappling with how to deal with some of its Confederate icons and is looking into changing streets named after Confederate generals.

The issue may be decided Wednesday, when the City Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to change the names or keep the existing ones.

Three streets—Lee, Hood, and Forrest—were named after Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, John B. Hood and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also an early and influential member of the KKK.

Community activists have been trying to change the names for years, with little city support. Now, after applying through the city’s formal renaming process and paying the $2,000 application fee for each street, the commission is seriously considering it.

A commission meeting in June devolved into a shouting match between supporters of the name changes and those who want the names to remain in place. There are already a few protests planned to coincide with Wednesday’s meeting.

The three streets would be renamed Macon, Savannah and Louisville, names that were originally chosen by the founder of the city, Joseph Young, for those streets.

The commission will also discuss changing all street names to street numbers and imposing a moratorium on future renaming.

This post will be updated with the results from Wednesday's meeting.

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