Morgan Junction park name: 1 more day to get signatures

Just heard from Pete Spalding, who’s been helping lead the months-long community effort to convince the city Parks Department to name the new Morgan Junction park after longtime West Seattle Herald reporter Tim St. Clair, even though he’s been gone less than the three years the department lists as a minimum for such naming proposals. Pete says they have ONE MORE DAY to gather petition signatures supporting the park name – they will be at the Gathering of Neighbors tomorrow, 11 am-3 pm at Chief Sealth High School (at Boren), where you can sign in person, or if you can’t go, contact Pete at bayouwonder@msn.com and he’ll arrange to get your signature. (The park is scheduled for its official dedication at the Morgan Community Festival in June, but construction’s been proceeding quickly — including sidewalk work on the California SW frontage — and it will likely be done well before then.)

Meghan April 3, 2009 (5:25 pm)

I’m sure Tim St. Clair was a lovely man, but honestly, aren’t there other local luminaries or historial figures that should be considered? The whole reason they have the 3 year rule (as do most all cities) is just for this reason — so we don’t permanently name an important public insititution in the emotional aftermath of someone just dying. I think in a few years people would look back and say “now why did we name a park after someone almost no one has heard of”?

WSB April 3, 2009 (5:47 pm)

I never actually met him. And we don’t take advocacy positions one way or another. But I will say, as a veteran journalist, what Mr. St. Clair did is extremely rare – work in one relatively small community for decades, keeping close watch on important community stories.
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In media, at least before the current troubles in the business, you are somewhat conditioned to think that you need to keep moving up, up, up to bigger companies, bigger cities – it’s a special kind of dedication to put your roots down in a particular neighborhood, for a small news operation, making what was likely a modest salary, and decide that’s where you want to tell your stories, and those are the people you want to cover day in and day out, night in and night out.
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If there are other people for whom community leaders would like to see this park named, no one has come forward publicly proposing it (the Parks Department is continuing to accept suggestions through Monday, which is why the petition drive is wrapping up:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=14518 )
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The only other naming effort currently active is the one we’ve reported on a couple times, to rename the West Seattle Bridge in honor of the late city councilmember Jeanette Williams, who fought for the federal money it took to get the high bridge built.
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TR

Pete April 3, 2009 (6:02 pm)

Meghan,
I will only say that you missed meeting a special person when you did not have the privilege of meeting Tim St Clair. As someone who has been active in thsi community for anumber of years now I had the distinct honor of crossing paths with Tim on mnay occassions. Tim was a special person spending many long years telling the stories of everyday people here in West Seattle and covering all of the local stories. If you do a little research you will find that he also worked for several years in the other Washington as a legislative aide. He wrote several speeches that were delivered on the floor of the US Senate including one that was part of the debate on the potential impeachment of Richard Nixon. So please do a little research and understand why we are working so hard to complete this task,

old timer April 4, 2009 (2:27 am)

The man had his following, no doubt. But, it’s a lot of public money to spend on one citizen.
IMO, if the park needs a name besides Morgan Junction Park,
I, for one, would like the name to reflect some kind of memorial for those West Seattle soldiers who have died in Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Duane April 4, 2009 (8:07 am)

I think Morgan Junction Park name reflects the history of the area just fine. The area was a train stop back when cars were a rarity and I think we should do as much as we can to preserve our history. Especially with the tidal wave of new construction going on replacing some of our historic buildings. Why do we need to be so egotistical to have to name parks after people anyway? Last place name: Nichols Park!

kc April 4, 2009 (7:42 pm)

Does anyone want to place bets on how long it will be until some @#$%ing *&^%#%$ spraypaints their “tag” on this place. I say its under 1 month!

Dis April 4, 2009 (10:31 pm)

Parks should not be named after people except in the most unusual circumstances. Many people have made significant contributions to West Seattle, but their names have not been well known, as they have labored in the background, day by day, year in and year out. Mr. St. Clair, as a member of the press, was known to many. And he was a wonderful man. But an exception to the city’s naming policy is not warranted. Wait until three years after his death, and then take on the mission of naming a park after him.

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