Satnam Singh Drive plan faces uncertain future; talk turns to renaming park
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- The sign at Francis Park in Ogden, photographed Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. While renaming part of nearby 675 North in honor of Satnam Singh faces an uncertain future, Bart Blair of the Ogden City Council proposed the idea of renaming the park after Singh.
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- Part of the section of 675 North in Ogden that would receive a designation to honor Satnam Singh is pictured Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. Singh was a convenience store operator killed on Feb. 28, 2021, while tending the nearby locale.
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- Part of the section of 675 North in Ogden that would receive a designation to honor Satnam Singh is pictured Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. Singh was a convenience store operator killed on Feb. 28, 2021, while tending the nearby locale.
OGDEN — The push to give part of 675 North an honorary street name, Satnam Singh Drive, seems to face a questionable future.
There’s no question Satnam Singh, shot and killed while tending his Ogden convenience store on Feb. 28, did great things in the community, said Marcia White, a member of the Ogden City Council. She just wonders whether giving an honorary designation to the street in front of the store he ran, Super Grocery at 675 N. Monroe Blvd., is merited.
“I don’t know that it rises to the level of some of the other street naming that we’ve seen,” she said. Portions of two other Ogden streets, among others, have alternative designations, one to honor Cesar Chavez, the labor rights leader, the other to honor Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights activist.
Bart Blair, the City Council chairperson, has another idea, though — rename Francis Park in Singh’s honor. The small park sits along 675 North about three blocks west of the convenience store, sold after Singh’s death and now called Kwick Shop #2.
Either way, officials haven’t yet made a definitive decision. The City Council discussed the proposal to give part of 675 North the honorary designation at a work session on Tuesday, but took no action. It’ll likely come up for a formal vote in January.
Singh was shot and killed by Antonio Garcia, then 15, who was later found guilty of felony illegal discharge of a firearm and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies. The killing prompted a strong outpouring from the neighbors around the store, who lauded Singh as a personable store operator who seemed to always have a friendly word for customers.
Jesse Redden, who had frequented the locale, launched the petition drive to rename part of 675 North, prompting the deliberations among city officials. The proposal calls for giving 675 North from Jefferson Avenue east past Gramercy Avenue the honorary designation.
Councilperson Doug Stephens raised the issue of timing, whether such a decision should be made so soon after Singh’s death. “Right now, there’s a lot of emotion because of the tragedy of the event,” he said.
Blair wonders whether the honorary name, if approved, would resonate with newcomers to the neighborhood in years to come. “If I move in five years from now, I don’t have a tie to this person. I don’t know much about it,” he said.
The Ogden Planning Commission had earlier deadlocked 4-4 on a recommendation on the issue while city staff are offering no recommendation.
Blair, though, is open to the idea of renaming Francis Peak Park in Singh’s honor. That, he said, would be “a more fitting tribute” to Singh.
“Everybody here has a good heart. No one wants to have a bureaucratic response in a time when people are hurting from a loss,” said Councilperson Ben Nadolski. “So it would be nice to have some sort of tribute.”
If and when the street renaming measure fails, Blair said he’ll ask for more information on the idea of renaming the park. The mayor and members of the City Council may propose renaming of parks, he said.
