The current well-meaning proposal by former Richmond Councilperson Nat Bates to rename the Knox Freeway by including President Carter’s identify is a foul concept.
President Carter was not personally concerned within the designation within the late Nineteen Seventies of the then-Hoffman Boulevard mission as a federal interstate freeway. In distinction, John Knox. who served within the Meeting from 1961-80, labored for near twenty years to realize the interstate designation and the federal funding that will observe.
The state Legislature’s naming of the mission because the John T. Knox Freeway in 1980 was not simply primarily based on Knox’s advocacy for the Hoffman Freeway mission but additionally primarily based on his many accomplishments on behalf of Richmond infrastructure throughout his Meeting tenure.
The Carter administration was definitely concerned in approval of the proposal, however interstate designation and subsequent funding for the 6-mile freeway between Albany and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was primarily a legislative effort on the state stage led by Knox, assisted carefully in Congress by then-Rep. George Miller.
Metropolis leaders, together with former Councilman Nat Bates, have been very a lot concerned within the advocacy. However as Knox up to date, retired Assemblymember William Bagley, famous upon Knox’s loss of life in 2017, “Jack traveled to Washington and virtually single-handedly introduced the extension of the 580 freeway by means of Richmond to San Rafael.”
Knox’s nice legacy goes effectively past his dogged advocacy for the freeway. He was his early native supporter and advocate for the civil rights motion within the Sixties, exemplified by his management in efforts to boost cash in Richmond for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Selma march. I recall this historical past as a result of I used to be there within the late Nineteen Seventies, dwelling in Richmond, about to launch a legislation apply in Richmond, and my mom, Peggy Coffey, was Knox’s district administrator for his 20 years representing West Contra Costa.
Which is why I used to be appalled by the East Bay Instances’ protection of Bates’ proposal, particularly by the juxtaposition at some size of the proposed Knox Freeway renaming with the renaming of roadways nationwide following the launch of the Black Lives Matter motion. The suggestion appeared to be that the motive to alter the identify of constructions honoring racist traitors (Accomplice generals) serves as precedent for renaming the John Knox Freeway. Actually? The position of the renaming concept by the Instances’ protection throughout the BLM renaming context represents an epic disconnect with the Knox legacy.
There’s a cause freeway names honor only one individual, for instance, Nimitz, Warren, MacArthur, and, sure, Knox. So as to add, over time, different names, nevertheless worthy they might be, simply diminishes the meant honor. President Carter can have many tons of of constructions named in his honor. He, the truth is, deserves rather more than a brief phase of a neighborhood freeway he by no means touched, actually or figuratively.
I applaud Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez’s want to pay tribute to former Councilman Bates’ a long time of public service to town. I counsel that the Metropolis Council pursue one thing significantly better than backing Bates’ plan to call a neighborhood freeway after … another person. Bates’ management contributed a lot to the redevelopment of the Richmond Interior Harbor into the magnificent Marina Bay neighborhoods, historic waterfront and Richmond’s fashionable port. The Bates identify in that waterfront area, maybe the port, would match properly.
However let’s depart the well-named John T. Knox Freeway alone.
Colin Coffey represents northern Contra Costa County on the East Bay Regional Park District board.
