The Bonney Lake City Council may have already voted to change the name of the Sumner-Buckley Highway, but opponents of the decision are not giving up their quest to keep it as it is.
Several business owners whose addresses will be affected by the change once again took their concerns to the city council Dec. 13 and asked the council to reconsider.
The council on Nov. 22 voted to rename the section of Sumner-Buckley Highway that winds its way through Bonney Lake in honor of veterans. Beginning next year, the portion of road stretching from state Route 410 to Angeline Road will be known as Veterans Memorial Drive East.
The change was spearheaded by Councilman Mark Hamilton, who said this year’s 10th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the start of the War in Afghanistan made him realize the importance of having an official way of honoring veterans and first responders in the city.
Opponents of the move point to an additional expense on businesses as well as the loss of some of the city’s history.
Connie Swarthout, who owns CJ’s Carry-Out Deli on Sumner-Buckley, spoke first and displayed a petition that a customer left at her shop that asks the council to reconsider the name change.
Approximately 90 residents signed the “Petition to Save the Name” in less than two weeks.
“I appreciate the fact that you want to honor the veterans but the people of Bonney Lake don’t want that highway changed,” she told the council.
Swarthout said though she did not start the petition, it has been popular among her customers, many of whom, like her, are “old Bonney Lakers.”
“The people that come into my deli grab this and sign it,” she said. “Do not destroy a name of a road that people want.”
She also said that she and many of the other business owners to whom she has spoken were not contacted by the city.
“We do not want that and we are on that road,” she said.
Steve Marks of B Natural Music also spoke in opposition to the change, saying that for a struggling, small business the costs associated with changing the address can be difficult.
“I don’t appreciate the fact that it’s going to impact me,” he said.
He also said changing the road name will mean that customers from around the region are less likely to know where his store is.
“They do recognize the Sumner-Buckley Highway,” he said. “They know where that is.”
The council gave no indication as to whether they would reconsider the name change, but prior comments form businesses on the road did not sway the majority of the council, who believe it is more important to honor veterans and have street names that reflect their city, instead of two smaller, neighboring cities.
Swarthout said she did not buy the argument that the road promotes other cities and reiterated that opposition to the name change is not an opposition to veterans or to honoring their sacrifice, just not on that particular road.
She also said she would continue to collect signatures in hopes the Council reconsiders.
“People are talking,” she said. “We need to let the people be heard.”
