Metro Parks Board won’t alter its rules to name a park after civil rights icon Diane Nash

Some members of the Metro Parks Board were unwilling to waive a rule to rename Nashville’s Public Square Park after Diane Nash.

The rule states that a park can’t be named after someone who is still alive.

Councilmembers Nancy VanReece and Sharon Hurt requested an exception be made for Diane Nash — a Civil Rights icon who helped organize Nashville’s lunch counter sit-ins. The naming proposal has been floated in recent months and sought to change the name for the small, prominent park space immediately next to Metro’s historic courthouse and city hall.

VanReece says she is disappointed in Tuesday’s result, but won’t stop pushing for Nash to be honored.

“I move now to collaborate with anyone that welcomes the opportunity to recognize Diane Nash properly and with full honor while she is still here to receive it,” VanReece says.

Tari Hughes was the only member of the parks board who voted to waive the rule. She says she had more of an interest in seeing Nash honored prominently in this way.

But members who denied the request were concerned about the precedent it might set. In an emailed statement, board member Jeff Haynes says that there are other opportunities in the city to honor Nash while she is still alive.