KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Voters in Kansas City, Missouri, will decide if one of the city’s major thoroughfares will remain Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard or return to being called The Paseo.
The KCMO City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday to put the question on the Nov. 5, 2019, ballot.
Kansas City residents in Cass, Jackson, Platte and Clay counties will decide whether to reverse the street’s name change, which the City Council approved in January, during a special election.
Many city leaders championed the change, which became official in late February with the installation of new signage reflecting the name change.
Citizens who were concerned with the process the City Council undertook in making the name change gathered enough signatures to petition for a citywide vote on the issue last month.
Kansas City had been the largest city in the U.S. without a street named in King’s honor, but many residents in neighborhoods along The Paseo wanted a different street chosen for such an honor.
