The Wrong Choice by King Committee

Some time ago, a group of community leaders began a quest to honor the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Out of this noble intention grew the embarrassment of Market Street, in which citizens petitioned and overturned the City Council’s decision to rename the street for Dr. King. Angered and more determined, this group began a catharsis in the form of a committee, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Committee, to seek out a new, and perhaps better and more successful effort, to honor Dr. King.

One of the first tasks was to outline the details to be considered if the goal was to be reached. Given priority was the agreement not to change the name of anything. Instead, the committee decided something new should be created. Meetings were held, politicians pursued, support from the business community garnered and opinions sought.

The task must have been too formidable for the committee. Instead of something really creative and unique, the easier, less costly route of renaming the convention center was decided. No money needed to be raised, total community consensus could be bypassed and the committee didn’t have to get it built or decide what it should look like. It was just a simple matter of a name change. To do that, all they needed was to lobby the San Diego Unified Port District, acting as the developer of the structure, and the City Council, acting as the tenant and operator.

The convention center was named more than two years ago as a part of the lease between the port and the city. That name, San Diego Convention Center, was decided after much thought. The center’s purpose is to attract conventions that bolster our economy. An easy-to-say name that clearly identifies the community is a marketing plus. To that end, San Diego has already spent two years and almost $2 million promoting the San Diego Convention Center name across the country.

The Dr. King memorial committee must have been oblivious to the simple fact that, not only does the center already have a name, but that a great effort has already been made to promote that name. They probably knew but decided to go for the name change anyway. It certainly makes their task easy.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Committee should be challenged to spend the 10 years that the visitor industry spent to get the convention center built to arrive at its goal. Its challenge is to develop a new, original memorial to Dr. King, not to steal another group’s project.

STEVE WEATHERS

San Diego