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Central Point passes official guidelines on naming parks By BUFFY POLLOCK CENTRAL POINT - Willy-nilly naming of parks is a thing of the past. City Council members approved official guidelines earlier this month to eliminate hard feelings and complications when the naming of a park becomes a heated issue. "Beforehand, when a park needed naming they just kind of threw out a name and it was up to the council," said parks and recreation director Nancy Hansen. In a memo to the City Council, City Administrator Jim Bennett explained that, during the naming of the Don Jones Memorial Park, some differences of opinion arose and the need to establish guidelines became relevant. Some new guidelines include: � Community input will be requested in naming new parks. � If a person wants to donate land, the park can be named after them. � A park can be named in honor of a deceased person who made significant contributions to the community and has been deceased for at least twelve months. � Names of cultural places or features such as streets or schools associated with parks will be taken into consideration, in addition to historic events, sites and people. � Names of parks should be easy to pronounce and as short as possible. � A school park area should bear the name of the adjacent school to avoid confusion. Hansen said the new guidelines were also written to include facilities and buildings, for example, if Fire Station 7:8 ever needs renaming. "The town's growing and we have several parks coming up ... a park on the south side that needs naming, and hopefully we have the skateboard park coming up. This will just prevent conflict." For more information or to help name upcoming parks visit www.ci.central-point.or.us on the Web. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.