A small Miami neighborhood called Swastika Park can keep its name. Changing it would be a hassle, city officials said, and anyway, it was around before the Nazis.
The old name popped up at a recent Miami Zoning Board meeting when a homeowner asked for permission to build an addition. Officials pulled out a 1917 map and discovered the formal name for the eight-block neighborhood west of the Orange Bowl.The map was decorated with swastikas, which were symbols of good luck before the Nazis, who came to power in Germany in 1933, appropriated them as the party's emblem.
"I think we should change this," said board member Osvaldo Moran-Ribeaux. "It's an insult to the people of Miami."
But "Swastika Park" is recorded on deeds for all 92 lots in the subdivision. Changing the name would require the OK of every property owner as well as lawyers and surveyors to oversee the change, and the board decided that was too much trouble.