A lawsuit against the city of Hollywood has been filed by several of the city's own residents.
The suit aims to block the city of Hollywood from renaming three streets that honor Confederate commanders.
According to a report by the Sun Sentinel, the residents who filed the suit all live on Lee Street -- named after Confederate commander Robert E. Lee. They claim Hollywood violated its own ordinance by not letting residents who live on those streets vote on a name change.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Broward Circuit Court, names seven plaintiffs:
- Shelly Ponc
- Mary Wisniewski
- Leyda Wagner
- Raymond LaValle
- Donald Shupert
- Lubos Sadlon
- Roger Bartlett
The controversy over the street names made headlines more than two years ago after vandals painted signs on streets named for Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who also served as first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Hollywood commissioners agreed in August of this year to rename all three streets.
An earlier proposal to change Hood Street to Macon, Lee to Louisville and Forrest to Savannah was dropped after several residents objected to the new names as being too Southern.
City commissioners plan to hold a 10 a.m. workshop on Oct. 18 to discuss what to name the streets.
According to city officials, in all, 1,337 residents and businesses will need to change their address if and when the street names are altered:
- 810 on Lee Street
- 264 on Forrest Street
- 263 on Hood Street