HUNTSVILLE – After some debate, the issue of what to name the new city hall in the Rocket City was settled at the last regular meeting of the Huntsville City Council.
The building’s naming ordinance that was sponsored by Jennie Robinson (District 3 council member) – Huntsville City Hall – passed by a 3-2 straightforward name vote.
Robinson, Council President David Little (District 2) and Devyn Keith (District 1) voted for the measure and John Meredith (District 5) and Bill Kling (District 4) voted against the ordinance.
Kling has previously mentioned naming the building after Steve Hettinger, saying the former mayor was innovative and took the city “from an at-large to a district form of government.”
Kling also pointed out to the council that many Huntsville structures bear resident’s names such as Joe Davis Stadium, christened after the former mayor. Kling asked the council to wait before voting on the name.
But, the measure passed.
“The city hall belongs to all of us,” she said. “If you read the resolution closely, it mentions that we want to be an inclusive community and we want everyone to feel like this is their seat of government and they have a part, and that they belong here in this seat of government.
“So rather than naming it for any individual, with whom some people will identify and others not, I would suggest that it’s simply to be named the Huntsville City Hall.”
Street renamed for trailblazer
What do you do to honor a man already lauded for flying combat military missions, was a test pilot and astronaut, and retired as a brigadier general in the Army with a chest full of medals and a wall of commendations?
Name a street in his honor was the answer from the Huntsville Planning Commission and Huntsville City Council. The former voted to rename Eagle Drive in Cummings Research Park to Bob Stewart Drive, and at a recent meeting there was a unanimous vote to approve the move.
Stewart is a Vietnam War veteran, later became a test pilot, then flew two space shuttle missions as an astronaut. He was Deputy Commanding General for the Army Strategic Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal.
He retired as a brigadier general from the Army, and nearly a decade ago moved to Huntsville where he began volunteering for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Lewter Hardware facade protected
The longtime downtown business closed, and the building space sold to an outside investor, but the council approved a measure to allow Mayor Tommy Battle enter into an agreement with Washington Commercial LLC for an easement that would preserve the facade.
Lewter Hardware operated on Washington Street for nearly a century.
“We wanted to protect the character given the age of that building, very much like we’ve done in other parts of downtown,” Shane Davis, city director of economic and urban development, said. “We requested to place a facade easement on it so that the exterior character of the building that everyone knows is Lewter Hardware would remain.”
Keith appointed to committee
Little named Keith (District 1) to the Finance Committee to replace Kling, who resigned from the committee.
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