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Transportation committee favors renaming portion of Pryor Road for Michael Langford
Summary
After a public hearing with more than two dozen supporters, the Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee voted 5-0 to recommend renaming a portion of Pryor Road Southwest as Michael Langford Drive, attaching written confirmation from ATLDOT that code requirements were satisfied before forwarding the item to full council.
The Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee voted unanimously to favorably recommend renaming a section of Pryor Road Southwest as Michael Langford Drive after a public hearing in which family members, former colleagues and dozens of community members described Langford’s decades of service to youth and neighborhoods.
Supporters told the committee that Michael Langford — described repeatedly as a mentor to young people and a longtime community organizer — helped launch youth leadership programs and worked across city government and nonprofits. John Colbert, chair of the United Youth Adult Conference board and member of the renaming commission, said the committee “would simply vote yes, for this resolution.” Former Council Member Derek Bozeman, who said he had known Langford since his teens, called Langford “probably one of the greatest services the city has ever seen” and urged the committee’s affirmative vote.
The ordinance caption read into the record requested renaming Pryor Road Southwest and Pryor Street Southwest, extending from Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard Southwest to Lakewood Avenue Southwest, as Michael Langford Drive and referenced waivers to certain provisions of section 1-38-8 of the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances. After public testimony, the committee amended the item to attach a written confirmation from the Atlanta Department of Transportation (ATLDOT) commissioner that the code provision identified in the caption had been satisfied.
Council Member Antonio Lewis, an author of the measure, moved approval “as amended.” Lewis told the committee, “Every day I drive down Michael Langford Boulevard,” and thanked colleagues for advancing the item. The clerk recorded the committee vote as 5 yays, 0 nays; the item was declared favorable as amended and will be forwarded to the full City Council.
What happens next: The committee’s favorable recommendation sends the ordinance to the full City Council for consideration. The committee record includes the ATLDOT confirmation exhibit appended during the amendment; the council’s docket materials should show the same exhibit when the item is scheduled for a full council vote.
