Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. may soon have a home among Eugene’s streets and boulevards.
Efforts by the county and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to rename Centennial Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard recently advanced to the city level after a motion passed Jan. 13.
The motion, which the Eugene City Council unanimously approved, allowed the proposed name change to move forward.
The process may be lengthy, however, because changing street names involves work by the city’s Planning Commission, feedback from private property owners and compliance with city and state laws.
“I’m assuming it is going to happen, given the unanimous support of (the City) Council in going forward,” said Ward 1 City Councilor Bonny Bettman.
Bettman added that the county, city and University — all of whom own much of the property along Centennial — support the plan.
“We have, I think, support of the key players,” Bettman said. “I don’t foresee any obstacles that would get in the way.”

If passed, the new proposal would change Centennial’s name in Eugene. The street would keep its current name in Springfield.
But County Commissioner Bobby Green said Springfield was welcome to join the effort.
“If the Springfield City Council is interested in being a part of it they just need to let us know,” he said.
Green added that the plan has been discussed at the policy level in both city and county governments.
“Right now we’re in the stage of making sure the city is going through the appropriate procedures,” he said.
City and county officials also plan to concentrate their efforts and rename the street before the NAACP convenes its national conference in March.
City Councilor David Kelly, Ward 3, said place names can
remind us of our past.
“Martin Luther King was an inspirational, powerful and positive leader in our history,” he said. “So if the (City) Council action can, in a very small way, remind people of that history, then we’ve done a very good thing.”