Some push to change name of Division Avenue in Orlando due to segregation connection

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando road is getting a lot of attention as the community talks about changing its name.

Some say Division Avenue was named because it served as a border for residential segregation, and they want to see it renamed.

“There's been some debate about why it was named that way but how it functioned is the important thing – (it) separated the white community from the African American community,” said Rep. Geraldine Thompson, who founded the nearby Wells’ Built Museum, which features exhibits that memorialize Orlando’s African American history.

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Local pastors have tried to change the street name for years. Last week, they reminded people of that as they walked along Church Street and crossed Division Avenue while on a memorial walk for George Floyd.

“That was very much on purpose,” said the Rev. David Swanson with the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. “We have to do better, and if changing the name of that street starts to give us a vision for what the city could be in the future, then I'm all for doing that.

Hundreds have signed online petitions over the last few days to change the name of Division Avenue.

To change a street name, either the mayor can request it, or 51% of the property owners along Division Avenue have to agree to it. That’s how the effort failed in 2017.

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Team Heaton owns Accurate Diesel Injection and has been on Division Avenue for more than 30 years.

“It's been that name for the years that it's been,” he said. “That connotation can be ignored really, as far as I'm concerned.”

He said changing the street name would mean changing his business cards and invoices.

“The amount of money that it takes to do it is not substantial,” he said. “It's more of an inconvenience than money.”

As for what he would say to members of the African American community, he said: “Well being hurtful, it's difficult for me to say it would be hurtful. I don't really understand.”

But next door at The Sheet Metal Shoppe,owner Timothy Kucinski has different opinion.

“No need to have it anymore,” he said. “We're one human race.“

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A spokesman for Mayor Buddy Dyer said renaming streets are typically community-driven efforts, but believes this is a good time to revisit the issue.

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