Petition Aims To Rename Justin Herman Plaza After Maya Angelou
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- There is a new push to rename a San Francisco park after poet Maya Angelou.
Supporters are signing the change.org petition to rename Justin Herman Plaza after the poet in part due to Herman's legacy, which left the petition's creators "shocked, dismayed and uncomfortable."
Justin B. Herman was a city planner who headed the city's redevelopment agency in the late 1950's, '60's, and until his death in 1971. The petition states that the agency, under Herman "chose to focus its funding, energy and the omnipotent powers of imminent domain to accomplish the forced removal of more than 5,000 minority families from their homes, businesses, neighborhoods and communities."
The petition's authors are petitioning to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, and the board of supervisors to rename the park.