By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Chiefland City Commissioners Monday voted unanimously to name a street that runs through a predominantly black neighborhood for the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a nationally respected civil rights leader.
The city asked residents to vote on which street should be named for King and those who voted by ballot favored naming SW 2nd St. Commissioners said SW 2nd St. would bear King’s name from State Road 345 to West Park Ave.
There had been talk in earlier meetings of naming SW 2nd St., along with the street it connects to in Hardeetown, NW 12th Drive, for King, but apparently naming the Hardeetown street wasn’t a popular one.
Mayor Chris Jones said several people he spoke to had issues with naming the Hardeetown street for King. NW 12th Drive runs through Hardeetown to State Road 320, commonly known as Manatee Springs Road.
“They had some personal issues with Hardeetown. That was the commentary I got prior to this,” Jones said.
City Manager Laura Jones said a couple of ladies at a previous city commission meeting didn’t feel that Hardeetown was the best place to name a street for King. She assumed their views were rooted in history.
“They wanted to be more positive, and in their opinion, Hardeetown was not,” Jones said.
Commissioner Norm Weaver’s motion to name SW 2nd Street was supported by Jones and Commissioner Lewrissa Johns, who made the second. Commissioner Lance Hayes missed the meeting due to testing positive for COVID. Commissioner Rollin Hudson, a farmer, told city officials one of his fences was damaged in a powerful thunderstorm storm shortly before the meeting and he needed to repair it.
“My motion is to accept SW 2nd Street being named after Martin Luther King for what he’s done for our country. We offer all the respect in the world for that man and what he went through,” Weaver said.
Trunk or Treat?
Johns proposed having the city block off a portion of Park Ave. for a Trunk or Treat event around the time of Halloween.
Commissioners expressed no opposition. Jones said she would contact local businesses to determine how many would participate and she also wanted to determine how many streets would be blocked off.
She said traditionally city Halloween events are held on the Saturday before Halloween. This year, the festival would take place on Oct. 29.
At one time, Chiefland Area Athletic Association sponsored a fall festival type of event at Charles Strickland Park, but the festival is no longer held.
The Chiefland Police Department at one time sponsored a Haunted House in the former warehouse of Central Florida Electric Cooperative, but that event disappeared when the warehouse was sold to a manufacturing company.
Johns said she had been approached by several residents who felt the city should be more involved in providing a trick or treat event, or some other wholesome event for children around Halloween.
Johns said she understood the concern people have in the modern era about door-to-door trick or treating but she felt the city could provide some type of fun event for kids.
“I’ve had several community members ask for some type of trick or treat or something along those lines for Halloween put on by the city,” she said.
Johns said she remembers as a child participating in trick or treating in Chiefland. She took her niece and nephew on their first trick-or-treating event in Chiefland but there were only three homeowners handing out candy.
“It was a devastating thing,” she said.
Johns said if the city could do an event in a safe environment and invite business leaders to get involved, she said it could be “real positive” for children of the community.
Trunk or Treat events typically involve businesses and community organizations setting up tents at a designated location and distributing candy as children pass by in their Halloween costumes.
NW 11th Drive
Jones, responding to questions, said she is planning to set aside money in the coming budget for an engineering study of NW 11th Drive, a deeply rutted dirt street that runs behind a north Chiefland business district along U.S. 19.
She said the engineering study would clear the way for the city to apply for a state grant to pave the street, but she said there are quite a few problems with the street that must be resolved before it can be paved.
“There are a lot of logistics in that road, some high areas and some low areas,” she said. “There are water lines in the road that have to be moved. There are light poles on private property that have to be moved, so it’s not just a matter of pulling in and paving that road. There are a lot of logistical features we have to look at for that road. An engineer has to look at it and tell us what it’s going to cost to pave this road.”
Jones said she has contacted Mittauer & Associates, an engineering company, regarding the road. Mittauer has done quite a bit of work for the Town of Bronson. The city commission would have to approve funds in the 2023 budget for the engineering study before the company could be hired to do the work.
NW 11th drive would provide a paved connector street from the Walmart shopping center to U.S. 129. Hudson has asked about the street a number of times. He said traffic levels are getting worse on U.S. 19 and city residents would benefit from having a connector street that bypasses the busy highway.
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