RTD columnist suggests renaming Boulevard for Arthur Ashe

Columnist Michael Paul Williams says the city should consider renaming the thoroughfare for the Richmond tennis legend.

July 16, 2015; 9:05 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

With all the recent talk that we should be adding to history instead of tearing it down, we have an opportunity in Richmond.

Arthur Ashe would have celebrated his 72nd birthday four days ago, but his presence within the city of his birth remains low-key. His statue, erected on Monument Avenue in 1996, is dwarfed by Confederate memorials. Battery Park tennis courts were renamed in his honor in 1998.

It’s a reasonable idea and one that wouldn’t be that hard to implement. After all, the tennis courts Ashe played on are at the southern terminus of the road; the Arthur Ashe Center sits along the road to the north. Plus, the road isn’t named anything significant as it is right now. Why not?

Photo: AAroads.com