BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN -- Mail will still come addressed to Roosevelt Boulevard, but motorists will travel on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Way.
The Middletown City Commission is expected tonight to designate a 5-mile stretch from Interstate 75 through downtown as the King Memorial Way. The new designation starts at I-75 and follows Ohio 122, which winds through the Butler County city and turns into Roosevelt Boulevard, University Boulevard and then 14th Street.
The street names won't change, said Commission Clerk Bettie Arthur. Previous attempts to change street names within the city have failed because of residents' reluctance to change their addresses, she said. Mrs. Arthur does not expect opposition to the proposal, in part because city officials already met with residents and business owners in the affected area to explain the designation.
It is the first road to receive a memorial designation in the city, Mrs. Arthur said.
"With about 11 percent of our population from the black community," she said, "the designation is a good way for our citizens -- both white and black -- to pay tribute to Mr. King."
