(WSB photo of High Point Playfield, taken this afternoon)
A few days ago, the city circulated a news release seeking name suggestions for three parks around Seattle. One is High Point Playfield. The news release didn’t explain why a not-new park was in the market for a new name, but we followed up, and just got the answer – it’s the first step toward potentially naming the playfield in honor of trailblazing former Parks Superintendent Walt Hundley. Read on for more:

Here’s the full answer we received from Parks’ Paula Hoff today:

For many years now, the Hundley family and friends have been looking for a park site to honor Walt Hundley. Walt was dedicated to parks, recreational facilities, green belts and open spaces in the City of Seattle. He was the former administrator at CAMP, director of the Model Cities Program, past Director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Management and Budget and a former Superintendent of Parks. Walt was an influential civil rights leader and strived as Superintendent of Parks to make the city a welcoming and attractive place for all of its citizens. Mr. Hundley was the first and only African American Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation and served in that position for 11 years. See link below for more information on his life.

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3173

The family has requested that we name the High Point athletic field after Walt Hundley. He was the Superintendent during the time the High Point site was acquired from the Seattle Housing Authority and the money was appropriated for the acquisition of the site. It was named under his tenure to reflect the proximity to the High Point Public Housing Development. Seattle Parks agreed to consider this site and as required under the Park Naming Policy, we will run our park naming process. The first step in this process is advertising out to the public seeking naming suggestions for this site. The Committee will consider all of the naming suggestions we receive before making a final recommendations to the Superintendent, who has the final authority in naming parks.

Information on how to suggest a name (or comment on this proposal) is in the original Parks news release, published on this city webpage.