Chuck Swore, the brains behind naming a Cedar Rapids street after native-son golf phenom Zach Johnson, is continuing to push to name a stretch of local asphalt for native son Kurt Warner.
Swore, a recent City Council member, initially jumped out with the street-naming idea for Warner after quarterback Warner helped get his latest team, the Arizona Cardinals, to the Super Bowl. Warner, a graduate of the former Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, had been to two Super Bowls as a St. Louis Ram.
Two weeks ago, Swore suggested naming what he thought was an unnamed street that runs by Kingston Stadium and Veterans Memorial Stadium for Warner.
Turns out the street actually has a name, Veterans Memorial Drive. The idea of changing the name to Kurt Warner Drive didn’t sit too well with some veterans, Swore reports.
His new idea is to put Warner’s name on the nearby street that runs next to Kingston Stadium and the tennis courts outside Veterans Memorial Stadium and between Eighth Avenue SW and Veterans Memorial Drive.
That little street is next to the Kingston football venue and won’t “insult every veteran” by trying to change the name of Veterans Memorial Drive, Swore says.
Plus, he adds, the proposed street has no existing name and no addresses on it that would need to be changed.
Swore says an interception thrown by Warner in Sunday’s Super Bowl matters not one bit in the city’s need to name a street for him.
“I hope it can be done immediately,” he says.
Swore hasn’t warmed to what he says has been KGAN-TV’s idea to name part of Interstate 380 for Warner.
Eye on the Island 