TEMPE, AZ — Tempe will consider renaming parks and streets named after former community leaders who were recently discovered to have been dues-paying members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The city said Friday that the names will be up for discussion when the city council meets next week.
City officials say they notified leaders of the Tempe Elementary School District that their research showed three schools are also named after former Klan members.
City staff says a Klan chapter called Butte Klan No. 3 included many prominent Tempe residents in the 1920s, including mayors, council members, bankers, and other power brokers.
Leaders say a community member alerted them to the name connections late last year so staff at the history museum started doing research on the names.
