AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The recommendation is to have Riverwalk renamed for Edward McIntyre, but some say this isn’t something the former mayor would have wanted.  

“The thing about Ed is I don’t think Ed would want this to happen today. Ed and I were very close. Ed always liked to stand in the background. He never pushed himself forward,” said former Augusta city councilor Stovall Walker.  

Stovall Walker was a member of the of Augusta city council when McIntyre was elected Mayor. 

“I supported McIntyre. I thought he did a great job to start with. I hated he got in trouble because I thought he was going to be a great mayor. He had the opportunity to doing it,” Walker said.  

Walker was on the council when Riverwalk was built, and he sees the renaming as potentially divisive. 

By naming something after someone, even good, bad, or indifferent, it makes somebody happy and somebody unhappy,” Walker said.  

On Tuesday, not only did a commission committee recommend renaming Riverwalk, it also recommended naming the Utilities Department Building for former Director Tom Wiedmeier and Diamond Lakes ball field for former commissioner Andy Cheek.  

“Every piece of dirt doesn’t have to have someone’s name on it,” said Walker. 

“There is that argument. Don’t name anything for anybody. What about those folks? The city should stop naming things.”  

“That’s probably true. At the same time, we’re still doing it, so until we come up with some resolution that we’re not going to do it, I guess we’re still going to do it,” said Commissioner Bobby Williams.  

And right now, all it will take is a final vote by the full commission, and the Edward M. McIntyre Riverwalk will be a done deal.