There’s a movement in Citrus County to rename the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
The proclamation was raised during last Wednesday’s county commission meeting to rename it the American Freedom Canal, as first reported by the website Just Wright Citrus.
The proclamation said the canal “serves as a critical conduit for both recreational pursuits and national security operations,” and renaming the canal “promotes the restoration of names reflecting American ideals.”
The Cross Florida Barge Canal was a proposed canal route that would’ve connected the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.
Construction was halted in 1971 and it’s now called the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.
Carr led the opposition to the canal with her conversation group Florida Defenders of the Environment. The land was named after her in 1998, one year after she died.
Republican commissioner Jeff Kinnard said he would want to consult Carr’s family before renaming the canal. He made a motion to deny the proposal before rescinding it.
“It would’ve been appropriate to go to that family and say, ‘We’ve got an idea about renaming the canal,'” Kinnard said. “‘We want to honor our veterans, we want to honor Marjorie Harris Carr’s legacy, what do you think about doing this cooperatively as a group?’”
The commission said they will further discuss the name change.
11 Responses to “Citrus County Commissioner proposes a name change: American Freedom Canal”
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I honestly think just leave it alone. Folks are not ready for that. If it’s not broke don’t fix it!!!!
What a total waste of county commissioner time. Renaming a failed canal project? We have wasted enough time and resources on that boondoggle. Please don’t waste more.
The Cross Florida Barge Canal is a man-made unnatural scar on the our state’s landscape. It has nothing to do with “American Freedom “ and everything to do with an age of environmental ignorance and destruction. Thank God for people like Marjorie Harris Carr. Let the original name for this mistake live on forever in infamy.
Do NOT change the name to “American Freedom Canal”. Change it to the “Gulf Of Mexico”. To many clowns bowing to the orange man.
Do your job and stop wasting time and money on stupid things like this. This is not about freedom it is about us about waste. She is a hero and should be celebrated. Changing the name comes with new signs, more time and waste of resources. Work on things of priority and stop blowing air in places it needs not be
Renaming the canal to the American Freedom Canal is an idea more asinine than renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Voters need to take heed of the names of our public servants wasting time like this and vote them out.
(To the editor: it’s a “conservation” group, not a “conversation” group.)
This infuriates me. Our county has so many important issues and renaming this canal in no way honors veterans but simply steps in line with all of the politics happening around the country. Honor veterans by doing something real-free rides to shopping, giving them a day in Liberty Park with local businesses offering support, etc. I am disgusted by this waste of time in our limited time with the commission. You can count on me and many others at the next meeting to discuss this further.
How about it was a stupid idea canal.
My first job out of college was to participate in a biological/ecological survey of the route of the freshly abandoned canal. It, and the predecessor project, a sea-level canal started in the 1930s, were bad ideas.
I think veterans would be insulted to have a dead water canal with a broken boat lock named after them! A canal Floridians stopped! A really unsafe passage for manatees!
This idea is really dumb idea. In my opinion it is just a knee jerk attempt of Republicans trying to flatter Donald J. Trump’s ego.
Vote NO to do this ignorant idea.