Some community leaders in northeast Denver say the late Rev. Jesse Langston Boyd Jr. was instrumental in renaming two streets for Martin Luther King Jr. and Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Now, they want to rename something for Boyd: a 4.9-acre park in the city’s Skyland neighborhood now called Northeast Denver Community Park.
“Northeast Community Park is a no-name park,” Councilman Albus Brooks said. “I think it’s really important that, especially in a neighborhood and a community that’s constantly changing, we remember some of our heroes with building names and park names. Here’s an opportunity to honor one of our heroes.”
A neighborhood organization president, however, said a committee intentionally chose to name the park for the community rather than for one person.
“What they decided to do was to not name the park after any particular individual because there were so many people that they thought the park deserved to be named after,” said David Goens, president of North City Park Civic Association.
Goens said an alternative proposal would be to place a memorial in the park. But Brooks said funding could be a challenge.
In December, the Rev. Timothy Tyler, senior pastor at Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, sent the late Councilwoman Carla Madison a letter requesting that the park — northwest of Colorado and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards — be renamed for Boyd.
Sean Bradley, a member of the church’s steward board, said Boyd helped fend off attempts to develop adult uses and restaurants on the park site. In 1991, Boyd also led the effort to move Shorter AME to its current location, near the park.
Boyd, a civil-rights leader and longtime preacher at Shorter, died in 2004. Parks and Recreation policy states that renaming generally shouldn’t occur until at least seven years after a person’s death.
Earlier this year, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board approved the proposal. A department spokeswoman, however, said Madison and board members later wanted the church to do more outreach.
Madison, who initially had supported the renaming, died in April. After a civic association meeting in May, Bradley said the church decided to put things on hold until after the election to replace Madison. Brooks won and soon backed the proposed renaming.
A City Council public hearing is scheduled Aug. 15.
Bradley said the church didn’t intend for the issue to be divisive.
“We just hope that people understand that we are a community church that was always open to anyone and how important Rev. Boyd, how significant he was, to that effort in 1991. He’s a very important figure in the Denver metro area.”
Matthew Rodriguez: 303-954-2409 or mrodriguez@yourhub.com
