(WMC-TV) – Memphis city officials are suggesting new names for two Confederate themed parks - hoping to bring a compromise to a big controversy.
The renaming of three Memphis parks has caused one city council member to cry and creates an uproar each time the council discusses it.
Now, a letter to the Parks Renaming Committee from Mayor A C Wharton and council member Jim Strickland makes suggestions for even more names.
You'll recall in February the council voted to rename Forrest Park to Health Sciences Park. The mayor and Strickland suggest it be renamed to Civil War Park, where markers can be installed to explain what happened in Memphis during the war.
Nathan Bedford Forrest's statue can stay, but it is suggested that a monument to General Ulysses S. Grant be placed in the park with private funding to commemorate his commanding of Union Forces in Memphis.
Confederate Park downtown, now Memphis Park, would be changed to Battle of Memphis Park. The Mayor and Strickland have no name change suggestions for Riverside Park, once named Jefferson Davis Park.
Myron Lowery, City Council member, who started the whole parks renaming with a suggestion to put a statue of civil rights crusader Ida B. Wells in what was Forrest Park, told us he didn't understand why the mayor and Strickland didn't have suggestions for all three parks. He also said the Parks Renaming Committee will hear ideas from a diverse group of citizens.
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