Who knew that changing the name of a road could impact so many people and mean so much? I certainly didn’t. For those of you who don’t know, the Grand Junction City Council has made the decision to switch the name of North Avenue to University Boulevard. With that decision passed, North Avenue will be known as University Boulevard beginning March 2018.
Changing the name of a road really doesn’t seem like a big issue on paper, but in reality, for several students and most businesses, this decision raises some major concerns. While on campus, I was able to interview several students.
Brooke Cryer explained to me that she really didn’t care about the change because it wouldn’t really affect her and that they are just street names. “I would still call it North,” she said jokingly.
Coty Yates said, “I feel like that’s just costing everyone unnecessary money to change their address and it’s going to confuse people…And if you are going to change it, name it something that actually has to do with the school, like Mesa Boulevard or Maverick Avenue.” Well said, Coty.
Dakotah Matarozzo stated, “As for the new University Boulevard, I think it’s neat to have one in Junction. I do think though that it wasn’t necessary, and probably caused lots of unneeded costs for the town and for businesses along that street because they would have to change their addresses on cards and billboards and many other things.” Matarozzo continued with, “I like it, but given a choice, I would have rather seen the money that will be used in it go to more useful places than renaming a street.”
Kaelyn Dennis also added to the many opinions on this topic of interest. According to Kaelyn, “I think it’s bullsh*t. It’s been North Avenue since my dad was a kid. Why change it just because a school is growing? I understand showing pride and what not, but the school spans several blocks and is still growing. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what is.” Good point.
Along with my fellow Mav students, I had the liberty of interviewing some of the local businesses located on North Avenue, who will be directly affected by the change. I was able to talk to a combination of business owners and employees. When asked about their opinion on the matter, one employee from Randy’s Southside Diner simply stated, “I’m not happy about it. I would rather see changes made to the road, not to the name.”
COPY COPY employee Savannah Quillin expressed, “I’m not a fan of it.” I asked her about how the change will affect the business and she declared, “To be determined.”
Other businesses denied an interview.
At Aqua Time Pools and Spas, I was able to interview the owner, Scott Kelley. I asked for his opinion on the matter and he told me, “My wife has been here since 1994 and won’t speak her opinion because she is shy. But for me, I think it’s ridiculous. What’s the benefit?” Mr. Kelley pointed out his major concerns about having to redo all of his promotional items and contacting his vendors before the beginning of March.
To answer my question about how the change will affect his business, Scott said, “When customers ask where my business is, I will have to explain the location more.” Although he does not speak negatively of the change, he doesn’t see the benefit of it either.
Mr. Kelley deeply expressed his greatest concern as I finished up the interview. “Changing all of the signs and promotionals for businesses would cost tens of thousands of dollars, who’s paying for it?” For other businessmen like Scott Kelley, this question lingers with concern. Who is paying for the University Boulevard name?
