MLK Park community center will not be renamed in honor of Durham Carter

Columbia City Council has walked back its plan to rename the community center at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in honor of a beloved community leader who died in December.

Council members voted Tuesday to instead find another location to honor Durham Carter, the longtime leader of the MLK neighborhood near Five Points.

Some community members did not like the idea of renaming a center that was originally named to honor King, according to a March report by WLTX.

Carter died Dec. 17 at the age of 88. He was a native of Columbia and an icon among community leaders, working tirelessly for decades to better his neighborhood and the city.

In addition to serving for many years as president of the MLK neighborhood near Five Points, Carter fought to get the city to tear down dilapidated houses in his neighborhood at a faster pace. He spearheaded an effort to establish his neighborhood’s historic preservation overlay. And he helped restructure City Council into a district-based form of government with two at-large representatives as well.

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 8:23 PM with the headline "MLK Park community center will not be renamed in honor of Durham Carter."