I would like for the council to explore that to have it be basically a Martin Luther King Jr./Lincoln Ragsdale park right here in front of Tempe City Hall. I think that sends a very strong message.”
Tempe officials settled on the six new street and park names that will honor local civic and diverse leaders, retiring the original titles that were associated with Ku Klux Klan members.
Tempe City Council received an update at its Feb. 9 study session about the project underway to rename several streets and parks that were previously named after local members of the klan from the 1920s.
Started October 2021, a city report explained that Hudson Lane, West and East Laird streets along with Hudson, Harelson and Redden parks donned the names of former community leaders who were found to be paying members of the local KKK chapter by the Tempe History Museum.
This discovery spurred the city to look into renaming those impacted streets and parks by forming the Street and Park Ad Hoc Renaming Committee to identify and recommend new names.
Chaired by City Manager Andrew Ching, the committee, formed in August 2022 by a number of community stakeholders, held four meetings and an online public forum from Sept. 22, 2022 to Nov. 30, 2022 to source name ideas.
The committee also completed additional public outreach and informed impacted residents in early November before finalizing the names.
The committee came up with the following proposed names:
Hudson Lane to be renamed Thomas Lane
East Laird to be renamed Ragsdale Street
West Laird to be renamed Romo-Jones Street
Harelson Park to be renamed Mary & Moses Green Park
Hudson Park to be renamed Parque de Sotelo-Soza
Redden Park to be renamed Michelle Brooks-Totress Park
Narrowing down the options
At the Feb. 9 study session, Ching and city management fellow Madalaine McConville answered the mayor and council members’ questions and provided context to the above names.
McConville began with talking about choosing Michelle Brooks-Totress for one of the parks. She was a long-time resident, community activist and philanthropist who was “instrumental” to Tempe’s Juneteenth celebration and adoption of the CROWN Act.
Harelson Park’s new name references Tempe’s first African American landowners. Mary Green’s pioneer homestead was near the northwest corner of what is now Rural and Warner roads. Her children Moses and Fred were involved with agriculture in the Tempe and Chandler districts.
The family was known for Theodore’s barbershop in Tempe, renting housing to African American students at Arizona State University and promoting early Juneteenth celebration near Tucson among other community activities.
For the other park, Parque de Sotelo-Soza was chosen to honor the multi-generational Latino pioneer families whose homestead was near the park’s location.
According to the presentation, the first family members, Juan Soza and Jesus Maria Sotelo Soza, were instrumental in agriculture and the canal construction of the Roosevelt Dam.
Ching noted that a descendant of the Soza and Sotelo families, Ty Lee, suggested that the park be named Parque de Soza and that a “special recognition area” be set up by the original Rancho de Sotelo with signage that informs visitors of the historical significance.
“That recommendation came in and we thought it was worthy of your consideration this afternoon,” Ching said.
At the meeting, Lee spoke a little about this move and the mayor and council were inclined to honor the Soza and Sotelo families separately with the suggested park name and historical markers.
As for the streets, Hudson Lane will take the surname of Maggie and Theodore Thomas, an African American pioneer family who moved to Tempe in 1906.
The new Romos-Jones Street refers to Adolfo Romo and Joaquina Jones, who were the plaintiffs in the 1925 lawsuit against Tempe Elementary School District. Their action led to the ruling that schools must admit Hispanic children.
Finally, Ragsdale Street would honor local African American businessman Lincoln Ragsdale who was a civil rights activist who was a leader behind the desegregation of education and housing in the Phoenix area.
Ragsdale served on the Greater Phoenix Council for Civil Unity’s board of directors and was instrumental in bringing Dr. Martin Luther King to ASU’s campus — however Councilmember Doreen Garlid brought up that Ragsdale was not a Tempe resident and some of the community had shared concerns for this choice.
“I tend to agree that the Laird Street name for Lincoln Ragsdale — absolutely amazing person — does not seem to me to really fit in La Victoria,” Garlid said.
She added that the committee could consider naming the street after someone important to the La Victoria neighborhood and that on the point of the potential renaming to Parque de Soza, the city should look into more historical markers.
Councilmember Joel Navarro also contested the choice of Ragsdale. He suggested the committee look into Morrison Warren, an African American professor at ASU who made an impact in Tempe.
Contrary to Garlid’s point, Councilmember Berdetta Hodge expressed strong support, saying Ragsdale contributed a lot to the Tempe community, especially with his work burying the majority of the Black community.
Mayor Corey Woods also spoke on this renaming, proposing that a different name be chosen for East Laird Street and that Lincoln Ragsdale be honored in a different way for his activism in the Valley community.
One of his recommendations was Sixth Street Park be renamed to Martin Luther King Jr. and Lincoln Ragsdale Park to refer to Ragsdale’s contributions to bringing the famed civil rights activist to ASU.
“I would like for the council to explore that to have it be basically a Martin Luther King Jr./Lincoln Ragsdale park right here in front of Tempe City Hall. I think that sends a very strong message,” Woods said.
Other notable measures
McConville also provided a list of names for future consideration that were identified during the committee’s process.
“There were 10 names at the end of it that were hard to narrow down from the committee’s perspective, so they thought it was important to provide you these names for future consideration of city facility renaming or namings,” McConville said.
Other names included Hohokemel, the O’Odham word for butterfly; San Pablo, the Latino pioneer community of Tempe; Okemah a neighboring Black farmworker community established in the 1920s; and Obregon for Pedro Obrego who was a Latino pioneer, farmer and civil rights activist and worked at Hayden Flour Mill.
At the meeting, council set Obregon as the replacement for Ragsdale, but they will also be adding more names to the list for future namings including former ASU head basketball coach Bill Kajikawa.
Additionally, the committee looked into how the roughly 173 impacted residents will be reimbursed for the renaming. No businesses are to be impacted.
“The reimbursement process, this is one that we’re still kind of flushing out,” McConville said.
For now, she said that any reimbursements will be capped at $100, however there will be special considerations for impacts that may be over the limit. There will also be a website created for these residents to find information related to the renaming process.
Staff will present the finalized information to the Development Review Commission on Feb. 14, after which, it will likely be brought to city council again on March 2. The committee is tentatively planning for the streets and parks to be officially renamed on July 1 or Aug. 1.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org
To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
Tempe street renaming,
City of Tempe,
Laird streets,
Hudson Lane,
Harelson Park,
Hudson Park,
Redden Park,
Lincoln Ragsdale,
Soza family,
Sotelo family
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Ching noted that a descendant of the Soza and Sotelo families, Ty Lee, suggested that the park be named Parque de Soza and that a “special recognition area” be set up by the original Rancho de Sotelo with signage that informs visitors of the historical significance. 
Contrary to Garlid’s point, Councilmember Berdetta Hodge expressed strong support, saying Ragsdale contributed a lot to the Tempe community, especially with his work burying the majority of the Black community. 
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