Longview Mayor Spencer Boudreau Plans to Remove Charlie Kirk Way Proposal—Classic Hits 100.7 KLOG News

The Longview City Council is going to meet tonight, and one agenda item on the list has garnered a lot of controversy: a proposal to rename a portion of Maple Street to “Charlie Kirk Way.”

Mayor Spencer Boudreau commented Tuesday on Facebook that he plans to pull the proposal from the agenda.

The idea was originally introduced by councilmembers Keith Young and Erik Halvorson. They said the goal was to rename the section of street in front of Lower Columbia College, from Olympia Way to Washington Way, after the conservative figure who was assassinated in Utah on September 10.

In a post, Halvorson said, “This honors Charlie Kirk’s mission to protect the First Amendment and ensure free speech thrives on college campuses.”

In Boudreau’s comment on The Daily News Facebook post, he said, “There’s a lot of reasons this proposal can’t move forward, from costs to the college to other folks from our community with big contributions and legacies not being honored. I personally suggested that longtime Councilmember Ken Botero be honored with a designation somewhere and did not get Council support. I’ll be pulling the item from the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.”

A council majority could overrule Boudreau’s decision, but that is not likely, considering that he tends to vote with Young and Halvorson.

The announcement from Boudreau also comes following a letter of concern from Mark Silva, the chair of the LCC Board of Trustees. Silva stated that “Changing the college’s official address would create significant logistical and financial challenges. Updates across thousands of documents, marketing materials, signage, contracts, accreditation filings, and digital systems would be required.”

A lot of the opponents of Kirk’s ideology also argued that this change would have brought an unwelcoming environment to LCC for students.