Photo: TwitterAs we talked about on Monday, there’s been some controversy surrounding efforts to name a bridge for Bishop Joseph Walker, though weirdly not the kind of controversy you’d expect. As a result, Metro Councilman Jeremy Elrod is proposing an ordinance that would put in place a process for naming city things after people.

His proposal does four things I think are important. One, it puts the matter of naming things under the umbrella of the Metropolitan Historical Commission. So the people with the job of knowing about history will be the ones evaluating claims of historic significance to the city. Great.

Second, it directs the historical commission to have a “specific mechanism for soliciting and measuring public input.” So, if we wanted to name a building for local sweet transvestite, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the public would have a chance to say, “Wait, I know for a fact that’s not Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but instead, is long-lost menace to society, Dr. Frankenstein!” Or controversies more mundane than that, but you get the drift.

Third, it stops us from naming things for living people, with some important exceptions — like people who’ve made significant contributions or given huge gift of land or money to the city (so, if you donate land for a park, they can name the park after you). In other words, we still could name something for Diane Nash and/or John Lewis while they’re still alive to appreciate it (Hint, hint).

But the other crucial thing it does — and this I think will be somewhat controversial, but I hope not — is that it limits naming honors to current or former Nashville and Davidson County residents. There are probably bunches of reasons why this is important, but the reason I think it’s important is that we have named things in Nashville to make broader, problematic points. These range from truly ugly things — like changing the name of Line Street to Jo Johnston Avenue as that neighborhood became blacker as a not-so-subtle reminder to black Nashvillians that they ought not to stop looking over their shoulders for trouble from Confederates — to mixed blessings, like getting a street named for Rosa Parks (Hurray!), who never lived here, when we have so many of our own civil rights heroes we haven’t honored (Boo!).

So I think this is a good way of protecting ourselves from some of our past excesses. Hopefully the rest of the city council agrees with Elrod.