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Home My WebLink About13 - Ensign View Park to John Wayne Park - CorrespondenceReceived After Agenda Printed April 25, 2017 Item No. 13 From: Karen Tringali <karen_tringali@msn.com> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 5:50 PM To: Dept - City Council; City Clerk's Office; nbwdc59@gmail.com Subject: Public Comments: April 25, 2017 Regular Meeting Agenda Item XIX #13 Agenda Item XIX, #13: Changing the Name of "Ensign View Park" to "John Wayne Park" to Honor the Former Resident Dear Mayor Muldoon and Council Members, I respectfully request that you set aside this item in favor of a new motion. If any Newport Beach resident is going to have a park named after them, then it should be a Newport Beach resident who has dedicated his or her life to creating new parks and open -space opportunities and to protecting the ones we already have. Names that immediately come to mind include Jean Watt, Claudia Hirsch, Jan Vandersloot, Nancy and Jack Skinner and so many more individuals and families. It is true that John Wayne was a former resident. The staff report makes an effort to tie this motion to the NB Bicentennial Committee's efforts in 1976 honoring various patriots "and all persons striving for equal rights." Given Wayne's affiliation with the House Un American Activities Committee, it would seem the purpose of this motion is at odds with the truth, and renders him an unfit candidate for such an honor. This park -naming honor, unlike the naming of our airport, is much more personal to Newport Beach, and we should strive to honor our special and honorable residents in this manner, as we did when we named Bob Henry Park, Grant Howald Park and others. Thank you for your consideration of this request. Karen Tringali Corona del Mar Received After Agenda Printed April 25, 2017 Item No. 13 April 25, 2017, Council Agenda Item 13 Comments The following comments on items on the Newport Beach City Council agenda are submitted by: Jim Mosher ( iimmosher(cDyahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229) Item 93. Changing the Name of "Ensign View Park" to "John Wayne Park" to Honor the Former Resident This item, like many, seems procedurally flawed. It asks the Council to waive the existing Council Policy B-9. However, Council policies are normally adopted by resolution, and Policy B-9 (unlike some other policies) contains no provision allowing the waiver of any features of it by a simple vote of the Council. I would contend that if features of Policy B-9 are to be waived, those waivers should be mentioned and justified in the resolution renaming the park (although in this case, the current version of Policy B-9 appears to have itself been adopted without a formal resolution on May 13, 2003). 2. More importantly, whether the Council has the power to waive B-9 by simple vote, or not, the portion of B-9 that requires the Council action on park naming to be preceded by a recommendation from the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission is simply echoing a requirement found in the City Charter, and I do not believe the Council has the power to waive that requirement by any means. a. City Charter Section 709 is a statement of the powers and duties given directly by the people of Newport Beach to PB&R. b. Among those is power and duty to "(a) Act in an advisory capacity to the City Council in all matters pertaining to parks, beaches, recreation, parkways and street trees." I take this to mean the people of Newport Beach want all decisions affecting their parks to be filtered through their PB&R Commission. c. If the people of Newport Beach had wanted that to read "(a) Act, when requested, in an advisory capacity to the City Council in all matters pertaining to parks, beaches, recreation, parkways and street trees," they could very easily have done so. But they did not. In light of this, I don't think the Council can act without a recommendation from PB&R, as required by the City Charter. d. Oddly, an article in the Sunday Orange County Register, referring to this agenda item, quotes an unnamed City source as saying "The proposed name change must be reviewed by the city's Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission before making a recommendation to the council." But I am unable to find anything in the present staff report or proposed resolution that aligns with this. 3. As to the idea of renaming Ensign View Park to John Wayne Park, I think that is a bad idea. a. I also believe the staff report materially misrepresents the former Council action in 1979 to adopt Resolution No. 9683 as endorsing the idea of erecting a statute of John Wayne in the park. The actual language of the cited resolution indicates it created a committee to work with the Junior Chamber of Commerce to place a commemorative statue in the adjacent Theater, not in the park. That made sense, April 25, 2017, Council Agenda Item 13 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2 since theaters are about acting, and "John Wayne" was one of the best-known actors connected with Newport Beach at the time. b. As to the need for additional remembrances of Mr. Morrison,.it might be noted that residents of Newport Beach are already reminded of the actor upwards of 150 times a day as jets from John Wayne (International) Airport depart over their homes. c. As to the general appropriateness of naming parks after people, a review of revisions to Policy B-9 reveals that as Item 20 at its May 13, 2003, meeting, a former City Council made a deliberate decision to modify the policy to delete the sentence that previously allowed new parks to be named after "Renowned citizens of the community." By not creating an explicit prohibition against this, and by increasing the naming possibilities to "new or existing" parks and facilities the Council left an "out," recognizing that there might at some time in the future arise some truly extraordinary circumstance that would justify such naming or renaming. But absent such circumstances, the unanimous opinion was that parks and facilities should not be named after people. i. As indicated in the above -referenced staff report, this was a carefully reasoned decision based on a March 4, 2003, recommendation from PB&R, and prior public discussion as Item SS5 at an April 22, 2003, City Council Study Session, as well as at the May 13, 2003, Council meeting. ii. The unanimously agreed to reasoning was that there were simply not enough parks and facilities to accommodate all those after whom parks and facilities might, absent extraordinary circumstances, be named. The opportunities to dedicate trees or benches, and name rooms within facilities seemed sufficient. iii. Although Policy B-9 may previously have allowed parks and facilities to be named after people, it does not ever seem to have ever been the City's practice. In 2003, the only previous instance seems to have been the Council's concurrence with PB&R's recommendation in 1958 to name "Grant Howald Park" (under circumstances that would not, today, seem extraordinary — Mr. Howald was the young director of the Youth Center). In 2003, two cases were pending prior to the official change of policy: the naming of the new "Bob Henry Park" (under circumstances that were extraordinary — the first ever slaying in the line of duty of a Newport Beach police officer) and the "Crean / Mariners Library" (which, although never apparently actually approved by the Council, was pointed to as a reason for needing the official change in policy), as well as requests to find a park to name after Rosalind Williams (which PB&R was seeking a way to avoid). The circumstance of the City having a young Mayor whose day of birth, by chance, happens to coincide on the calendar with that of a deceased but still well-known actor who once resided in Newport Beach does not, to me, rise to level of the sort of extraordinary circumstance that should cause the Council to abandon its well -reasoned policy of not naming parks after people. Received After Agenda Printed April 25, 2017 Item No. 13 From: City Clerk's Office Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 11:27 AM To: Mulvey, Jennifer; Rieff, Kim Subject: FW: Ensign View Park Name Change From: Kiff, Dave Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 11:26:45 AM (UTC -08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) To: City Clerk's Office Subject: FW: Ensign View Park Name Change For the record. From: Susan Kopicki [mailto:sckopicki@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 10:08 PM To: Dept - City Council <CityCouncil@newportbeachca.gov> Subject: Ensign View Park Name Change Mayor and City Council, I moved to Newport Heights in 1971. Ensign View Park is a jewel along our bluff. It's home, it's nice, it is a great view. Changing the name to anything else is totally absurd and unnecessary. Changing the name to John Wayne Park is even worse. Not all of us respect the legacy of John Wayne. But independent of the varied opinions people might hold, there's just no reason to waste time and energy that should be spent on the real issues we have to address. I don't want my park's name changed. I want real issues addressed. Plus, there are lots of historical figures from Newport who would also deserve a park named for them. It's just a bad precedent and I really question why City Council finds value in this change. It's really nonsensical. Susan Kopicki 511 EI Modena Received After Agenda Printed April 25, 2017 Item No. 13 & Non -Agenda From: City Clerk's Office Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 11:53 AM To: Mulvey, Jennifer; Rieff, Kim Subject: FW: Public Comments: April 25, 2017 Regular Meeting Agenda From: mpeyton112@gmail.com Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 11:53:18 AM (UTC -08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) To: Dept - City Council; City Clerk's Office; nbwdc59@gmail.com Subject: Public Comments: April 25, 2017 Regular Meeting Agenda Hi Folks I am strongly opposed to both moving the Reagan statue and changing the park name to John Wayne. Both are provocative and unnecessary suggestions that exacerbate the partisan divide. Please focus on important work rather than provocations. Sincerely Martha Peyton 212 1/2 Fernleaf CDM Include your name Include your city/zip Sent from my iPhone