Use of King’s Name for New Convention Center Is Opposed

The San Diego Convention Center Corp. on Tuesday rejected a call to name the city’s new convention center for slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., recommending instead that only the building’s bay-front plaza bear King’s name.

The corporation’s decision is only a recommendation to the San Diego City Council, which has joint authority with the San Diego Board of Port Commissioners to name the convention center. The council has tentatively scheduled a Nov. 22 discussion of the recommendations of a city-appointed panel that, after more than nine months of research, concluded that the city should memorialize King by naming the convention center after him.

Nevertheless, the chairman of that panel, the San Diego Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Citizens’ Tribute Committee, said he was disappointed with Tuesday’s 5-1 decision and called the reasoning behind it “a fallacy.”

“I think it’s a fallacy. I think it’s a screen for whatever the reason is,” said the Rev. Clyde Gaines, chairman of the King tribute committee.

Donna Alm, spokeswoman for the convention center corporation, said that a name change would hamper the center’s national and international marketing efforts, which already have been hurt by frequent delays in convention-center construction timetables.

Alm said a name change that takes “San Diego” out of the convention center’s title also would hurt the corporation’s ability to draw business.

“The name as proposed, ‘Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convention Center,’ is too lengthy to allow for the necessary quick identification for the facility, and does not indicate its location,” concludes a report to the convention center corporation’s board of directors. The report also suggests that the name might be confused with the Seattle Kingdome, named for King County, Washington.

But Gaines ridiculed the marketing arguments, noting that the convention center could include both “San Diego” and King’s name, just as San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, home of the Chargers and Padres, does.

‘Insults the Intelligence’

“I don’t buy that, and I think it insults the intelligence of everyone in San Diego to say that. . . . It’s not going to do anything, it’s not going to lessen the marketability or make it any less visible,” he said.

But, when asked whether the decision had racist overtones, Gaines said he could not reach that conclusion.

Scheduled to open in the fall of 1989, the 750,000-square-foot, $160-million convention center has been repeatedly delayed and faced escalating costs. The corporation, which operates and markets the facility, says that $1 billion in business has been booked or tentatively scheduled by groups attracted by the center, San Diego’s climate, and the city’s reputation for hospitality to tourists.

The plaza that would bear King’s name if the corporation suggestion is adopted is a two-tiered outdoor deck that leads down to the waterfront. It includes a 400-seat bay-view amphitheater that is scheduled to be the site of many public events.

Ballot Initiative

The conflict over efforts for a local King memorial sparked accusations of racism last year when a citizens group won passage of a ballot initiative to reverse a City Council decision to rename Market Street as Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Black leaders briefly called for a boycott of the city as a convention site but later dropped that effort.

Soon after the vote, the City Council picked the 19-member tribute committee to come up with alternative suggestions for honoring the civil rights leader, who was assassinated in 1968. After holding hearings throughout the city, the panel in August suggested naming the convention center for King.

The tribute panel also suggested that a statue or bust of King be prominently displayed somewhere in the convention center and that a permanent display depicting King’s life, philosophy and contributions to society be situated conspicuously in the center.

But the convention center corporation’s staff also balked at those suggestions. Their Sept. 21 report states that “it is extremely important for all to understand that there never should be permanent displays or artworks within the building because they encroach upon leased tenant space.”

It also adds that, because the convention center covers the entire 11.2 acres of bay-front land provided by the Port District, “there is no land under our control available for placement of a statue.”

Instead, the board of directors voted to affix a bronze plaque bearing King’s image and an inscription on the outside of the building.