
The city is saved and all is well.
Via Sun Sentinel:
Another city is joining the nationwide movement to purge streets, statues and monuments honoring Confederate generals: Hollywood.
“It is time to change the names and the time is now,” Commissioner Debra Case said Monday during a City Hall meeting that drew prominent elected officials from around the county. “We must do the right thing and we must do it now.”
It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy.
But on Monday, more than a week after a raucous protest at City Hall that resulted in five arrests, Hollywood commissioners agreed to rename streets honoring three Civil War-era generals: Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
The 5-2 vote was not final. Commissioners will need to vote on the matter again on Aug. 30, when they come back from summer break.
Under current plans, Forrest Street will become Savannah Street; Hood Street will change to Macon and Lee will become Louisville.
The long-running controversy made headlines again two years ago when vandals painted over the street signs. A similar call 15 years ago went ignored.
The more recent push to rename the three streets was picking up steam, with State Rep. Shevrin Jones, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, Public Defender Howard Finkelstein and Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar joining the chorus of critics calling for change.
Confederate sympathizers were equally adamant they be left alone.
“If we pass this, where will it end?” Hollywood resident Cynthia Baker told commissioners. “We have streets named for slave-owning presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Madison. Activists have said those streets are next.”
