The public can vote online for their favorite rename for Industrial Boulevard from Monday through Friday, May 26-30.  While it's nice to get public involvement in this process, let's hope the City Council doesn't consider this a binding vote.  It would be easy for people pushing one name or the other to rig the process.

Hispanics could be pressed to support Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  The farmworker leader, after all, was close to the earth and the Trinity Project is all about nature.  Hispanics would like to see a major roadway named after a Latino, but the logic of this one is based on a thin thread. Likewise, blacks may join to support Eddie Bernice Johnson Parkway, since the black Dallas congresswoman has worked in Washington to get funding for the project, and black political leaders can consider this a confirmation of their growing power.

Those are two of six names that have made the final cut, and the council will decide next month.  The other four names make some mention of Trinity, river or water, which seems to make some sense.  They are Riverfront Boulevard, Trinity Lakes Boulevard, Trinityview Boulevard and Waterfront Boulevard.

My simple mind says go with the obvious.  The effort to turn the Trinity into a bigger amenity for the city has been long and tortuous, with years of discussion, debate and votes.  Many people in Dallas are invested in this project -- not just blacks, Hispanics and Eddie Bernice Johnson.  Millions of dollars and years will be required before the Trinity Project comes to fruition. The obvious choice for the roadway that will be a main route to the downtown water park would have the word Trinity in it.  Or the name should at least make a reference to river or water.

The problem with this Internet vote is that people who feel as I do can split their votes four ways, between Waterfront, Riverfront and two Trinity names.  The council should take into consideration whether people support naming it after a person or to denote what the roadway is.

The idea, after all, is to upgrade the image of the old Industrial  Boulevard, a street associated today with jails, bail bondsmen, liquor stores, lounges, scrap yards and assorted small businesses -- many in decaying properties.

Industrial Boulevard actually is a historic Dallas street that came about when new levees were built and the Trinity was rechanneled in create an "industrial" street that was vibrant in the 1940s and 1950s.  Developer and longtime civic leader John Stemmons, through his Industrial Properties Corp., reclaimed and developed much of the floodplain.  Some say the name came from his company, but it clearly depicted the idea for the street: It was about bringing industry in close to downtown Dallas.  When the Stemmons Freeway opened in 1965, Industrial Boulevard began to fade as a major artery, as the properties started to decline.

Now, with the recreational development of the Trinity River, new bridges and roads, the opportunity arises for the redevelopment of Industrial.  Trinity planners hope the project will stimulate mixed use development -- including residential, office, retail and restaurants.  Council members should keep in mind what is the goal in renaming Industrial Boulevard and give it a name that depicts what it would come to be.  Otherwise, just leave it alone and consider it a part of Dallas history. 

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