On one side, the mayor called council members “irresponsible,” “short-sighted” and “petty.” On the other were six council members who don’t agree on many things, but do when it comes to the fate of City Hall.

Johnson and council members Jesse Moreno and Gay Donnell Willis pitched changing a sliver of Harwood Street between Harry Hines Boulevard and Woodall Rogers Freeway to “Exchange Place” to recognize the incoming Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) headquarters. 

The name change would’ve given the financial hub the address: 1 Exchange Place. 

Harwood Street into downtown past Klyde Warren Park would’ve kept its name. 

But council members drew familiar battle lines over historic preservation. The street is named after Alexander Harwood who was elected county clerk in 1850. Because of its historic distinction, the name change required 12 votes. 

Council members acknowledged it was an impossible threshold for the deeply divided group.  

Eight voted to change the name, saying the revision would send the message that the city is a major financial center. 

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Maxie Johnson didn’t vote because he was unable to connect to the meeting because he was on a plane. 

Six voted against the name change, including council member Paul Ridley who said the change would disrupt adjacent properties who would be forced to change their letterhead and contact information. He supported a sign topper instead. 

When the move failed, a majority of council members sought to bring the case back again in three weeks. Council members Adam Bazaldua and Cara Mendelsohn said the vote is unlikely to change. 

“If we want to get another L in two weeks, then I guess we’ll see where that is,” Bazaldua said.

They questioned if revisiting the name change would involve backroom maneuvering and public pressure to change their minds. 

Mendelsohn said she could only see “random billionaires and business owners and former mayors coming down” and if she had to make concessions, the only thing she would trade would be “a cessation of efforts to leave City Hall.” 

The mayor said he was not going to lobby votes, adding that financial services had asked for it and that everybody knew the section of Harwood Street in contention wasn’t the whole street. He said it would also not affect the Harwood District. 

“We’ve reached a level of pettiness at this point that I think is unprecedented and pretty detrimental,” he said. 

The City Council will revisit the issue in October.