(progress at Morgan Junction park site, photographed January 2009)
Another headline from this past week’s Morgan Community Association meeting: Looks like June 13th will be the date for the next Morgan Community Festival; MoCA skipped last year but is going full steam ahead with this year, and expects to have some of the area’s opening-this-year businesses on board. Music, food, and fun are planned, with events happening in and around the new park and neighboring Beveridge Place Pub. More details in the months ahead. Also from the meeting — an update about the park too, and the push to have it named as a tribute – read on:

As you’ve no doubt noticed if you pass the Morgan Junction park site regularly, work is going full speed ahead. At Wednesday night’s MoCA meeting, it was noted that construction is expected to be completed in April.

One thing that’s not settled, though, is what the park will be called.

Community leaders around West Seattle have supported the idea of naming it after the late Tim St. Clair, the longtime West Seattle Herald reporter who died a year ago; Mr. St. Clair lived relatively close by, and also covered numerous stories along the path the site took while evolving from monorail-station location to park site.

However, supporters say they are having trouble getting the proposal through the Parks Department, which has been reviewing its park-naming policy. At one point, MoCA leaders say, there was hope the policy might have been loosened, but it instead seems to be getting tougher. The Parks Board considered a suggestion to remove the requirement that someone be dead for at least three years before a park could be named in their honor – but instead, voted last month to keep that requirement in place.

Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher, however, still apparently has discretion regarding final decisions on park-naming, so MoCA leaders may renew their push to make this happen. If it doesn’t happen, they will look for some other way to pay tribute to Mr. St. Clair, maybe via some feature of the park, like a kiosk. The formal process of naming the park should begin soon, now that the Parks Board policy review is over; we’ll be checking with the project manager to find out its official status.

Next quarterly meeting for the Morgan Community Association: 7 pm April 15, The Kenney, with agenda items including officer elections.