Honoring Dr. King

A picture is worth a thousand words. While reading The Times on Nov. 6, I came across the photo of a “palmy pathway,” with joggers running down “a narrow strip of greenery that separates the San Diego Trolley line from Harbor Drive.” This median strip is supposedly named “King Promenade”--the city’s latest inadequate attempt to rectify the 1987 stripping of Martin Luther King Way from our city streets and the 1989 defeat of the naming of San Diego’s new convention center in his honor.

It is more than irony that “King Promenade” is located in the shadow of the mammoth convention center that was to have been named for Dr. King, and that it borders Market Street, which was formerly Martin Luther King Way. One can easily see that this median strip--no matter how much it is dressed up--cannot begin to compare to a major building or an official city street.

A promise was made by the city when the Martin Luther King Way signs were taken down in 1987 that a proper alternate city tribute would be designated. The city needs to fulfill that promise by doing no less than replacing that which was lost.

No more excuses. No more relenting to the David Dukes of San Diego. And no less than a city street or major building complex. It is time to properly resolve this shameful issue.

BARBARA GARTNER, Martin Luther King Tribute Coalition