Would you rather live on a street named after a basketball star or a civil rights activist? Cambridge residents will have to make this weighty decision within the next two months, when they debate whether to change Western Ave.'s commonplace name to a commemorative one.

The avenue, the main drag in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Riverside, could become either Patrick Ewing Way, after the Cambridge-born hoops star at Georgetown University, or Martin Luther King Blyd.

Graham Proposal

State Rep. Saundra Graham, a Cambridge City Councilor, proposed naming Western Ave. after Patrick Ewing at a council meeting last month, because honoring a local hero would promote Black pride in the area, she said.

But Cambridge representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) suggested at a city council meeting last night that the street commemorate Martin Luther King Jr., as part of a wider tribute that will take place nationwide this January. This suggestion has won tremendous support from Black communities in Cambridge.

Role Model

Naming the avenue after a widely recognized Black figure will provide a role model for Riverside children, said Joan K. Harris, head of the Cambridge branch of the NAACP.

Harris said she would like to see the street commemorate King because "Black people depend on athletes too much for role models" whereas the civil rights leader "should be remembered forever."

Graham, however, said her constituents would prefer to keep the street's present moniker. "It would be costly for Western Ave. residents to change their addresses and identification," said Graham.

"The people who live on Western Ave. don't want the name changed. They didn't care who it was for," the Riverside native said last night.