Recommendation to approve naming the green space/median located between 1st Street and Loma Avenue the John Parkin Green Space.
We're going to move up to 25 quickly and take care of it. Thank you very much. Sure. The Communication from Councilwoman Price recommendation to refer to the Parks and Recreation Commission to consider naming the pocket park at First Street and Loma Ave in Bluff Park. The John Parkin Pocket Park. Thank you, vice mayor and council members. Just a moment. Councilwoman Price is going to introduce the item. I'm very happy to support this item. I'd love to hear from the public and then I'll give some closing remarks. Thank you. Let's go to the public. Go for. It. Okay. I'm here representing Jeff Mellon of the Park Neighborhood Association, as well as some of John's friends and neighbors. I'd like to read something prepared by Jeff Mellon. The Bluff Park Neighborhood Association on behalf of residents in the Bluff Park Historic District. Asked the small that the small garden in our neighborhood located at the corner of East First Street and lower to be named in memory of John W Park. And John was an iconic, longtime active resident who led and helped with many projects in the Bluff Park Historic District. He lived from 1926 through 2015. With many of those years spent serving the city. In the neighborhood. While living on his first street. According to the Long Beach Press Telegram, he is perhaps best known for being the petroleum. Engineer. A graduate of Cal Berkeley who helped save Long Beach from sinking as a result from oil drilling and turned oil into a major revenue producer for the city as oil was being pumped out of the underground reserves along the coast. The land began to sink, causing property damage. Structural, structural damage. It was John that proposed the resolution to that. John was an avid supporter of the Bluff Park Neighborhood Association for 33 years and. Served. On the board of directors. In 1998. After its former entity became a concerned citizen, was reorganized. In 2004, he helped conceive a project to bring the historic East First Street lampposts to all the neighborhood. Although it did not move beyond a concept at this time, his idea has been reinvigorated today as the association's Black Park Historic Lamppost project announced in 2017. The neighborhood convened a meeting with dozens of residents who strongly believe that John is one of the neighborhood's seminal figures in his history worthy of recognition and accolade by having his name placed in the garden just on a kind of a personal note. John not only served Long Beach, he served his country. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War Two Victory Medal, the Army Occupation Medal, and two Bronze Stars. Thank you for inviting me to speak. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is Joel Pyne and. I support naming this park after John Park and he's a he was a great. Guy and a good neighbor. And I think it's important. For the council to. Understand that the. Initiative, to name this small spit of land in the middle of the first. Street after John was a. Grassroots initiative, it was taken. It wasn't. Something that somebody. Came to us or the city asked us to do. He really made an impact, the neighbors, the community. And we recognize it. And we hope that the council supports this initiative to name this little spot of land. It doesn't take any city funds to take care of after John Park and my friend. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Price. Thank you. And one of the reasons I love it is because it was a grassroots effort that really came out of a community that is well known in this city as being a really close community, really engaged community, and a community where the people who live there genuinely love where they live, love the spirit of collegiality, love the friendship that they make with their neighbors. And for you to honor one of your neighbors in this way is truly impressive and inspiring to me. As was already mentioned, John Parkin was a resident of Bluff Park for 33 years and a strong supporter and former board member of the Local Community Association, the Bluff Park Neighborhood Association . Although he is known throughout the city for his role in addressing subsidence and the use of Long Beach oil revenues, it's his impact on his local neighborhood that many residents will most will remember most fondly. His friends and neighbors remember him as a humble and loyal man with great integrity and always willing to lend a helping hand . He was seen as an icon in the neighborhood who was admired by everyone. In honor of this resident and the positive mark he left on his community. Residents of Bluff Park have requested that. This pocket park at First Street and Loma be named in his honor. We would like to move this item forward to our Parks, Recreation and Marine Commission and request that the name of the park actually be the John Park and Green Space or something along those lines to reflect the geography of the park and really the use of this park. I asked my council colleagues to support this item. Thank you very much. Thank you. But I like the alliteration of Park and Park. Pocket Park. Park and Pocket Park. I think you make a mistake with the green green space. Members, please cast your vote.