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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2010 > May > 18
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
City reaches compromises on street name change
In many situations, according to Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller, compromise isn’t the best tactic. That’s because, in his writer’s opinion, neither side fully gets what it wanted in the first place. It’s a settling, so to speak. (Still, I’m a man with a wonderful marriage, one kid and one on the way, so compromise is a word I’m all too familiar.)
But, in the instance of the renaming of Knightsbridge Drive to Technology Drive, both sides (residents and the city’s southern commercial corridor) came away with a victory Monday, May 17, at the hands of the Planning Commission. There are still a few steps to go before the win is realized, but Monday’s vote was a favorable move for change.
Here’s the story:
HAMILTON — The city reached a compromise Monday, May 17, regarding a request to change the name of a local street, catering to both existing residents and what many call Hamilton’s commercial future.
The Hamilton Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday to recommend changing the name of only a portion of Knightsbridge Drive to Technology Drive. The amended recommendation will now be heard by City Council before moving onto the next step.
If approved by council, Knightsbridge Drive will be renamed Technology Drive from University Boulevard to Neilan Boulevard, an area that includes the Vora Technology Park and Riverview Elementary. But from University Drive east to Ohio 127 — where nearly 40 residences are located — the street will remain as it’s been since it was changed from South Avenue in October 1962 to honor Champion paper.
“Compromise isn’t always the best thing to do, but in this situation, I think there’s a lot of respect for a lot of those in our town to amend the recommendation,” said Mayor and Planning Commission member Pat Moeller. “That way, you’ve got the residents of Knightsbridge and the others on Technology. In a way that kind of makes sense.”
In February, Dr. Daniel Hall, dean of Miami University Hamilton, submitted the request to City Council requesting the entire Knightsbridge Drive be changed to Technology Drive in an effort “to better and more accurately label the area and to support the efforts of VTP to make Hamilton a more attractive location for technology businesses.”
Hall said Monday he agreed with the compromise.
A meeting held May 3 brought out two dozen residents, nearly half of them expressing their objections to the change; a 40-name petition against the change had also been received by the city by Monday’s meeting.
Councilman Archie Johnson, who was the lone dissenting vote when council agreed to pass Hall’s request on to the Planning Commission, said in a letter Monday he was frustrated by the notion.
“I also think that it is terrible that ONE PERSON who does not live in this area can speak and impact a community that they know nothing about,” Johnson wrote.
While Hall does not live in the city’s 2nd Ward, he told the Planning Commission he lives in Hamilton, off Eden Park Drive.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.
