Panel Backs King’s Name on S.D. Convention Center

A majority of San Diego City Council members Wednesday voted to add Martin Luther King Jr.’s name to the title of the San Diego convention center, but differed over whether his full name or his last name should be chosen.

Debate over the proposed tribute to the slain civil rights leader became a political embarrassment for Councilman Wes Pratt when another councilman questioned whether Pratt was “bowing to racism” by proposing to add only King’s last name to the convention center title.

Speaking before a largely black audience at a special session of the council’s Rules Committee, Councilman Bruce Henderson also upstaged Pratt, the council’s lone black member and a leader of the effort to honor King, by suggesting that the convention center bear King’s full name.

The committee voted, 5-0, to send both proposals to the nine-member council, which will be faced with the politically and racially sensitive issue of choosing between them on Jan. 10, five days before King’s 60th birthdate.

It appears certain that the council will back the King tribute in some form because the five Rules committee members who supported it Wednesday constitute a majority of the nine-member council. A sixth council member, Abbe Wolfsheimer, also has said that she would support naming the convention center for King.

The proposal will require a vote of San Diego Port commissioners, who named the convention center in a 1985 contract with the city.

The selection of a suitable honor to King, who was assassinated in 1968, has been a volatile local issue since voters stripped his name from a major city thoroughfare in a 1987 vote. The council voted in 1986 to rename Market Street as Martin Luther King Way, but voters overwhelmingly approved reinstituting the old name.

A second proposal to place a privately funded statue of King in Balboa Park goes before a separate city subcommittee today.

Pratt, who lobbied council members and questioned business leaders about the depth of support for adding King’s name to the convention center, Wednesday proposed changing the title to “San Diego King Convention Center,” a decision that clearly disappointed some members of the citizens’ committee appointed to recommend a suitable tribute to King.

The panel had recommended renaming the convention center “in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” a phrase that was intended to convey that King’s full name should be added to the convention center title, said the Rev. Clyde Gaines, the panel’s chairman.

Statue Suggested

The group also suggested displaying a statue of King in the center, establishing an awards program in King’s name and ensuring that every city library contain information about King and his philosophy of nonviolence.

Pratt and his top aide said they decided on the compromise title in an effort to get the name change approved by the council and the port commissioners amid expected opposition from some business leaders and others.

“It was the prudent thing to do,” Pratt said. “The goal is to get the tribute to Dr. King.” But Pratt added that, “if I can get the whole name, I have no problem with that.”

Speaking at the Rules committee meeting, Mayor Maureen O’Connor concurred with Pratt’s instincts about opposition to the name change.

“There are some people in this community that don’t even want it to be ‘San Diego King Convention Center,’ let alone ‘San Diego Martin Luther King Convention Center,’ ” she said. “There’s a very strong element that feels it shouldn’t be named anything other than the San Diego Convention Center.”

The San Diego Convention Center Corp., which will run the bayfront convention center when it opens next year, last month advised naming only an outdoor plaza at the convention center for King, suggesting that King’s lengthy name would hurt marketing efforts, particularly if “San Diego” were removed from the title.

Examples Cited

Speakers at the meeting took pains to rebut that argument, citing Cobo Arena in Detroit, Reunion Arena in Dallas and Joe Robbie Field in Miami as examples of public arenas where the location is not mentioned.

“Is there a study that shows that the San Francisco Moscone Center is losing business because of the name?” O’Connor asked Convention Center Corp. President James Granby.

Granby appeared to back away from his organization’s opposition to King’s name. “You tell us what you as the political leadership of this city believe it should be named and we will operate it with pride,” he said.

But Henderson, citing the “palpable disappointment” of some in the Rules Committee audience, surprised Pratt by suggesting that he change his proposal to “San Diego Martin Luther King Convention Center.” The suggestion brought loud applause from some in the audience.

After some discussion, Henderson said , “I don’t think there’s an appreciable number of people in District 6 that want me to bow to racism,” a remark that again drew applause. “And I hope Mr. Pratt wasn’t trying to bow to racism.”

Pratt responded that “I don’t bow to racism in any form or fashion.” In a later interview, a visibly angered Pratt said, “I have a problem with (Henderson) trying to embarrass me in a public forum.” Pratt called Henderson’s statement “totally unacceptable and an indication of a lack of class and a lack of understanding.”

Although the two spoke after the meeting, Henderson did not apologize, Pratt said.

In a separate interview, Henderson countered that he wanted to make it clear that Pratt did not have to resort to a compromise to win Henderson’s vote for naming the convention center after King.

“I don’t want any implication whatsoever to be out there that Wes Pratt couldn’t get the full name because of me,” Henderson said. He also said that Pratt’s suggested title of “San Diego King Convention Center” will be seen “100 years from now as a bow to racism, and there’s no way you can avoid that interpretation.”