e-mail from Derek Cosson (Progressive Pensacola)

p.s. I was informed by the City Manager today that the request to change the name of Alcaniz into Martin Luther King has been withdrawn. r/Sam

Mr. Mayor and Members of Council:

I am aware that the City Manager, Mr. Coby, will be submitting to you, if he has not already done so, a packet with historical information regarding Alcaniz Street, but I wish to offer my thoughts.

Just about as long as there have been named streets in Pensacola, there has been Alcaniz Street. The name is clearly visible, as "Calle de Alcaniz", along with several other historic street names, on one of Pensacola's earliest street maps, the 1812 Pintado plan, drawn by the Spanish surveyor general.

The name Alcaniz does not refer to a person, but rather to a town in the Aragon region of Spain. Several other of our historical street names also refer to Spanish places, such as Barcelona, Baylen, Reus, Salamanca, Tarragona, and Zaragoza Streets.

The Alcaniz street name has special significance to the Old East Hill neighbourhood, which has already lost some of its historical street names; for those of you who may not be aware, 6th-8th Avenues used to be called Cordova, San Carlos, and Cevallos Streets, respectively. Those first two names are no longer used on any streets; Cevallos still exists as a street name, but only south of Romana. At some point the more historic names were dropped in favour of the boring, meaningless numbered avenues.

Personally, I revere Dr. Martin Luther King. He is perhaps the closest thing to a saint America has ever seen. I am thankful that he has received recognition here with a street and a plaza. But this street, Alcaniz Street, is quintessentially Pensacola. It, much more so than Dr. King, reflects the foundation upon which this city was built. For us to rename Alcaniz Street would be to literally shun our history. I think our history is one of our biggest assets and I would urge you in the strongest possible terms to preserve it.

Let's look elsewhere for things worth of Dr. King's name. There are many other streets, most of which don't have the special significance that Alcaniz Street does. We're going to be building a new public library... why don't we consider naming that for Dr. King instead. I think that would be particularly fitting to so honour a man who said: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Derek Cosson