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Group Hopes to Rename Street After Douglas Adams
interstellar_donkey writes "Despite the recent brouhaha over the renaming of 4th Ave after César Chávez, a Portland group is pushing to rename a local street after the late writer Douglas Adams. The street? Why, 42nd Ave, of course. According to their website, the renaming will reflect Portlanders' commitment to the arts, respect for the environment, desire to provide technological access to all, their passion to further education to all people, and most importantly remind Portlanders DON'T PANIC. This appears to be a serious movement, with preliminary paperwork already in the works."
I live on 34th and NE Stanton, just 8 blocks (20 blocks per mile in Portland, so .4 miles away), and AS a resident, I HEAVILY support this measure. I used to work on 42nd and Broadway and am involved in the local business community there.
I'm also an atheist and an environmentalist, as are most of the people here. Well, there are a lot of lesbians, too, at least according to the Census Bureau factfinder website (I have no idea how they found that out, but it's true, for I bought my house from a couple).
It actually came up because the Hispanic community wanted to rename Interstate Ave after Cesar Chavez (since Union was renamed MLK), which the people on Interstate thought was dumb, so it met with heavy public protest. The Mayor and Council were all for it, and then the public found out.
Since 42nd is a kind of major street, it would be very cool to have it renamed after Douglas Adams! We could open a Don't Panic Coffee Shop (or electronic gadget store).
I think the only major complaint would come from "42nd Street Station", a little mini-mall just off Sandy Blvd that would probably have to change their name!
It just needs some money to pay for paperwork, so please, donate!