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Voters Want To Return To The Paseo, So Kansas City Sets Its First Hearing On Alternate MLK Tribute

Kansas City has begun taking down Martin Luther King Boulevard signs and putting back up Paseo Boulevard signs. Image by Michelle Tyrene Johnson / KCUR 89.3. United States, 2020.

Kansas City has begun taking down Martin Luther King Boulevard signs and putting back up Paseo Boulevard signs. Image by Michelle Tyrene Johnson / KCUR 89.3. United States, 2020.

Kansas City parks officials asked for suggestions on how to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. after voters decided in November to reverse the renaming of Paso Boulevard after the slain civil rights leader.

Now the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners has more than 600 emailed suggestions on what should bear the King name.

Roosevelt Lyons, the board’s deputy director of operations, said the process aims to bring more people in on the decision.

“The focus is on creating a process that people feel like they’ve been heard and that they’ve actually had the opportunity to be heard,” Lyons said.

The first public engagement session on a decision is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. March 28 at Brush Creek Community Center. Lyons said that meeting will mark the the first of at least five public sessions.

Mayor Quinton Lucas started a three-month email comment period from the public.

Lyons said that a webpage set up by the city will keep residents up to date on an alternative to honor King.