VALDOSTA – Continental Drive is no more. The City of Valdosta has officially changed the name to Willie Houseal Drive in honor of former Valdosta City Council member Dr. Willie Houseal.

The dedication ceremony took place Thursday at Scott Park, where a variety of Houseal’s peers showed up to give him honor.

Council member Vivian Miller-Cody said the name change was overdue due to Houseal’s leadership and initiative having a lasting and positive impact on Valdosta.

During his time as a council member, Houseal was instrumental in rallying community support to change the way official positions were chosen. Thanks to the efforts of Houseal, City Council members are elected by district.

Wanda Denson, who worked with Houseal back then to enact changes to the voting system, said their actions were prompted by the potential closing of a fire station in the southside of Valdosta.

“All of us in the community realized that the city was trying to close down the fire station,” she said, “and Willie thought ‘Don’t we need protection, too?’”

When Houseal and other concerned residents took their issue to City Council, they were not heard, and that’s when Houseal decided a change had to come to the system.

“We all realized that if we wanted to live in Valdosta, a change had to come,” he said. “… The people needed to have a say in how their city was being run.”

Tony Daniels, another community activist who worked with Houseal, said making the change wasn’t easy. The group had to find a lawyer and fight the matter in court.

“We didn’t win in Valdosta but we took it to a higher court and won. And now we have elected city officials and board members,” he said.

Houseal then ran for City Council for District 1 and remained in that position from 1985-89, where he was instrumental in making changes to the city’s hiring practices, parks and recreational planning, and beautification efforts.

In the 40 years since that fateful decision to take action and make a change in government, Houseal has become chairman of the Pinevale Alumni Association and secured donations and sponsors to schools adopted by the program. He was a principal in the Brooks County school system and became a published author of the book “The Power of Self-Esteem (Using It All to Get It All)”.

Houseal makes it clear that despite the street being named after him, he couldn’t take all of the credit for positive changes in the community.

”Just because it’s named after me, doesn’t mean it’s all about me. It’s about our journey, our community and it’s a symbol for our children that they can make a change,” he said.