It was the last Cincinnati City Council meeting.

        The last of the session. The last under the old “weak mayor” system. The last for Councilman Phil Heimlich, and for City Manager John Shirey.

        But amid the going-away speeches, goodbyes and good riddances, council did conduct some business Wednesday.

        Council voted, 6-3, to rename Glenwood Avenue in Avondale to L. Venchael Booth Avenue.

        The Rev. Mr. Booth, now 83, is former pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Avondale and Olivet Baptist Church in Silverton.

        “As an African-American who has few people we can identify with who are uplifting in the community — Martin Luther King was one, Fred Shuttlesworth was another — we need to establish memories. We need to lift people up,” said Minette Cooper, who voted for the name change.

        Voting no were Pat DeWine, Alicia Reece and Jim Tarbell.

        Ms. Reece said there are so many African-Americans worthy of commendation that the city would soon run out of streets to name them for if it recognized all of them in that way.

        She pointed out that 86 percent of residents and property owners who responded to a survey opposed the change, and the city's Committee on Names unanimously recommended against it.

        Councilman Paul Booth, who had stayed out of any previous discussion of naming a street for his father, reversed himself Wednesday and voted for the motion.

        In other developments:

        • City Council passed, unanimously, a change in the building code that gives developers of historic buildings more flexibility.

        • Mayor Charlie Luken asked the city solicitor to draw up a panhandling ordinance “as strict as possible consistent with constitutional guarantees.”

        • Council approved a request by Mr. Luken that interim City Manager Timothy Riordan make the same salary as the outgoing Mr. Shirey: $149,604 a year.

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