Winter Park looks into abandoned MLK monument project

Winter Park is taking another look at constructing a monument to honor one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders.

The Winter Park City Commission last Monday discussed revisiting the construction of a monument in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. – a project that was conceptualized in a rendering of Martin Luther King Jr. Park when it was named after the famous civil rights activist in 2012.

The monument project was brought up by residents like Mary Daniels on Monday, who hoped to see the tribute come to fruition.

“We had an opening and a ribbon cutting,” Daniels said. “There’s a plaque and there’s a design and for the life of me I don’t understand why nothing was ever done.”

“Why don’t we see that?”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that,” Commissioner Greg Seidel said. “I don’t know where that’s at…I don’t know why we’re waiting.”

The rendering of the memorial includes a brick area made up of six overlapping circles in the northeast corner of the park at the intersection of Morse Boulevard and Denning Drive. Each brick circle represents a virtue: “justice,” “peace,” “love,” “hope,” “righteousness” and “dream,” the last of which features a green space with a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. and three flag poles. The five other circles are fitted with LED lanterns at the center.

“This is not something that the Commission has ever addressed at a Commission meeting,” said City Manager Randy Knight, adding that the price tag on the project at the time was around $200,000.

“I think there was a volunteer architect that helped design a project, but that project has not come forward to the Commission.”

But creating such a tribute might force the city to revisit its naming policy in regards to monuments and parks, Mayor Steve Leary said. The city already made an exception when they named the park after Martin Luther King Jr., who never lived in the city of Winter Park – a requirement under the current ordinance.

“We had a naming policy in place in this city that I don’t think we knew about,” Leary said. “By our own naming policy we weren’t supposed to name that park for someone who never lived in the city of Winter Park.”

“That was a conflict, but we went through with it because we thought it was a worthwhile tribute to Dr. King.”

It’s up to the city to find a way to keep Winter Park’s naming policy fair and consistent, Leary said.

“As far as creating a memorial, I think that’s a whole new step,” he said. “There are founders of this city and other important members of this city who don’t have a memorial. I think we get into a little bit of sticky area. I’m happy to have a discussion, but it has to go to the Parks Board and they need to come up with a policy on memorials, because, again, it’s out of line of what’s been considered so far in the city.”

The City Commission instructed Knight to meet with Parks and Recreation Director John Holland to come up with the next step for the City Commission regarding the MLK monument and a naming policy.