So much for renaming the John F. Kennedy Center in Willingboro, New Jersey, after President Obama.
The Township Council voted unanimously — 5-0 — to take back its initial vote to change the name to the Barack Obama Center amid widespread criticism, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“We have to listen to the people,” Mayor Eddie Campbell told the newspaper. “The people have spoken and we believe in government by the people.”
The building opened in 1966 but was closed for a period in the 1990s.
“I was five when Kennedy came to Willingboro Plaza in 1960,” said local resident Christine Getz-Alfinito, Fox News reported. “They built this in ’66 and named it after Kennedy after he was assassinated. He died for this country.”
The community is home to about 31,000.
Councilman Nathaniel Anderson apologized to voters for trying to change the building’s name, saying he failed to “think it through,” the Inquirer reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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