The San Diego City Council is set to recognize former political and civic leader Leon Williams next week under the city’s honorary street naming program.
Tuesday, a vote is scheduled on whether to add the name of the former council member and county supervisor to the 3000 block of E Street. The name of E Street itself along that stretch in Golden Hill will not be changed.
Williams, now 95, was the first black owner of a home on the E Street block in 1947, became the first black council member in 1969 and remains the only black county supervisor, having joined that body in 1982. He served on the Metropolitan Transit System’s Board of Directors until he retired in 2006.
According to a city staff report, Williams championed downtown revitalization, transit improvements and creation of the county Public Defender’s Office.
Others honored in the program that began this year have been community leader Kathleen Harmon, in Skyline; “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill, in Clairemont; and oceanographer Walter Munk, in La Jolla.
—City News Service