Dearborn City Councilmember Ken Paris (second from left) suggested during the Sept. 24 council meeting that the Hubbard name be left on the manors to honor the family, which includes Nancy, John, Frank, Henry and Susan Hubbard, all of whom have ties to public service.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – The City Council renamed Hubbard Manor West for former Mayor John O’Reilly Jr., and Hubbard Manor East to recognize former City Councilmember Suzanne Sareini during its Sept. 24 meeting.
In addition, the Dearborn Historical Museum office building was named for Chief Curator Jack Tate, and the Henry Ford Centennial Library Rotunda Gallery was renamed for longtime arts supporter EmmaJean Woodyard.
The vote was 6-1, with Councilmember Ken Paris casting the lone dissenting vote.
After the City Council passed a resolution Sept. 24 to rename Hubbard manors east and west, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said he will never name a building in the city to honor a self-proclaimed segregationist.
Paris attempted to separate the resolutions, but lacked support from his fellow council members to do so.
He then sought to have the Hubbard family, instead of the late Mayor Orville Hubbard, recognized by the name on the high-rise housing units, and said Nancy, John, Frank, Henry and Susan Hubbard all had ties to public service.
Paris suggested that the Dearborn Administrative Center be named after O’Reilly, Jr., and that the council chamber be named after Sareini.
A few residents spoke of the positive things Orville Hubbard did, and several people spoke the praises of Tate and Woodyard.
Mayor Abdullah Hammoud spoke after the vote was taken about why he did not want a building in the city with Orville Hubbard’s name on it.
“In my tenure, there won’t be a single building anyone can bring forward to me and tell me they want to name it after Orville Hubbard that I am going to support,” he said. “We do not honor bad history.”
The mayor said that Tate has compiled a history of Orville Hubbard on a wall in the Commandant’s Quarters of the Historical Museum for anyone who wants to learn about the late mayor.
“When you name a building after anyone, you are celebrating that person’s legacy,” Hammoud said. “You do not celebrate somebody who proudly stood up and said, ‘I am a proud segregationist.’”
Hammoud said segregationists should not be celebrated at any point in history.
Hammoud said the senior towers in the city have black residents, and when Hubbard was still mayor, they would not have been allowed to live there.
He said it was time the Hubbard name came down for good, since being a “popular segregationist” did not make it right.
“So, if you do something that is not right, you should not be celebrated for it,” Hammoud said.