Title
Review City Facility Naming Policy and Discuss Process for Renaming Jackson Park (20 minutes)
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Recreation and Park Commission
From: Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Re: Review City Facility Naming Policy and Discuss Process for Renaming Jackson Park.
BACKGROUND
At its April 12, 2018 meeting, the Recreation and Parks Commission received two Written Communications related to naming or re-naming parks. One was a request to rename Jackson Park to Justice Park. The second was to name a new, yet-to-be-built park at Alameda Landing Waterfront, to Bohol Circle Park.
The Commission directed staff to bring a review of the existing City Facility Naming Policy and clarifications on the policy’s direction to rename a facility.
Exhibit 1 is the City Council adopted 2016 policy for Naming City Property Facilities. The sections that are pertinent to parks are highlighted. This policy was updated from the 2007 policy recently provided to the Commission and the differences are within the street naming section, which is unrelated and does not impact this discussion.
DISCUSSION
New Park Naming
Per the policy, it is the responsibility of the Recreation and Parks Commission, as the representative of Alameda residents in matters concerning parks, to review requests and considerations for naming a new park. The Recreation and Parks Commission is responsible for naming of all city parks, swim centers, boat ramps and other associated recreation facilities. The Commission’s recommendation for a name is then made to the City Council for final approval. The most recently named park was Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.
Regarding the request to name the Alameda Landing Waterfront Park, Bohol Circle Park, the Commission has at least three options for its next steps:
1) Select a subcommittee, or delegate to staff, to solicit additional information from Bohol Circle regarding their organization and the reasons for their request.
2) Approve and recommend the name of Bohol Circle Park.
3) Conduct a larger community input process for the naming of this park with Bohol Circle as one of the available options.
Park Renaming
The policy is less specific in regards to renaming a park. The last time an Alameda Park was renamed was in 1979 when Buena Vista Park, originally named for the nearby street and subdivision, was renamed Littlejohn Park in memory of Elector Littlejohn, a prominent member of the city’s African-American community.
The policy stipulates that a comprehensive study be conducted to determine how the existing name was conceived and the impacts for renaming the facility. The Commission then reviews the study and makes a recommendation to City Council, which has the final authority on whether or not to rename a facility.
Regarding the request to rename Jackson Park to Justice Park, the following are possible options and considerations for the process:
1) Select a subcommittee, or delegate to staff, to conduct the study. This would involve research on why Jackson Park was named after Andrew Jackson, the overall history of the park as the city’s first park, and any potential impacts (positive or negative) for renaming the park. This process most likely would involve historical research including discussions with the Alameda Architectural Preservation Society and Alameda Museum; discussions with the person and/or organization(s) making the request for the name change to document the reasons for the request; review potential impacts for a name change.
2) The Commission then reviews the documentation and considers the request for renaming Jackson Park. Staff recommendation is to widely solicit community input at this point so the Commission has resident opinions to include in its consideration.
3) If it is determined a new name is appropriate, then the Commission may either consider the request to name it Justice Park or may conduct a larger community input process for the naming of this park with Justice Park as one of the available options.
4) Any recommendation would then go to City Council for final approval.
RECOMMENDATION
Review City Facility Naming Policy and discuss process for renaming Jackson Park.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Exhibits:
1. 2016 Revised Policy for Naming City Property Facilities