Worldwide, the city of Austin, Texas is known as the Live Music Capital of the World. The city hosts several different music festivals throughout the year and is an essential hub for musicians internationally. One of our streets downtown, Willie Nelson Boulevard, is named after one such artist who helped change Austin from a small town to a thriving city for music and counterculture.

It's a coincidence one of Austin's streets is named Bowie Street -- one might assume after the late David Bowie at first, but it's actually named after the Texas Revolution folk hero James Bowie. It's also a coincidence that the offices for Austin's biggest music festivals, South by Southwest, are located on Bowie Street. On the morning of January 13th, two days after David Bowie's death, locals decided to create a memorial to him by changing the street sign to read "David Bowie Street."

I believe that, in the same vein of Willie Nelson Boulevard, Austin should rename Bowie Street to honor one of the most influential musicians of the last century. While the street's original namesake is a Texas folk hero who should be honored, Austin's culture is always growing and shifting, and David Bowie seems to be a much more fitting reflection. (One may note that James Bowie's legacy is already memorialized by way of Bowie High School.)

City officials have stated that the "David" will be removed by January 19th. The purpose of this petition is to ask the City of Austin to keep the memorial and change Bowie Street to David Bowie Street permanently.