Citing the need for more community input, the City Council continued until next week a discussion on whether to rename a stretch of Clark Avenue in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
The council took up whether to rename Clark "Columbia Way" between Foster Road and Lakewood Boulevard at this week's meeting but voted the name change down 3-2 because members wanted more feedback from residents.
Council members Anne Marie Bayer, Roger C. Brossmer and David R. Gafin voted against the name change; Mayor Mario Guerra and Councilman Luis H. Marquez were in favor.
City staff members plan to call all 46 addresses -- about 19 are single-family homes, three or four are commercial and the rest are apartments -- before the special meeting to gauge public sentiment, said City Manager Gerald Caton.
Gafin, whose district includes the affected area, then asked city members to gather more input, Caton said.
Some residents who spoke at this week's meeting said they were concerned about how the name change would affect their mail delivery, global positioning systems, driver's licenses and related issues.
In an interview, Guerra said GPS services would be notified of the change and that the city would work with anyone who needs help filling out Post Office address forms.
Other residents expressed strong support, saying they favored honoring the Columbia, which was largely manufactured in Downey before final assembly in Palmdale.
Guerra provided the Press-Telegram with 44 e-mails from constituents in favor of the name change and five opposed to it. It was unclear from the e-mails how many of those residents lived along Clark.
Guerra initially floated the name change in honor of the Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center opening Oct. 24 on the NASA site, the Downey residents who worked on the shuttle program and the seven crew members killed in 2003 in the Columbia disaster over Texas.
A second option is to rename a shortened stretch of Clark between Imperial Highway and Lakewood, but Guerra said the discussion has centered on the longer section of Clark.
If the city changes the name, the cost to the city is estimated at $500 per intersection, totaling $1,500 or $3,500, depending on whether the council chooses the shorter or longer option.
The special meeting on renaming Clark "Columbia Way" will take place at 5<TH>p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Ave.
