By Brooklynn Wong
In a recent Special Meeting, the Buena Park City Council reevaluated the names of some of its city facilities. Some were for larger political reasons, and others had a more local angle.
Lindbergh Park
The park, at Stanton and 4th, was named for the corresponding Lindbergh Elementary School that used to be nearby. City staff proposed giving the park the more formal name of “Charles A. Lindbergh Park.” However, some are not in favor of the name Lindbergh at all.
Susan Sonne, a city commissioner and Executive Director of the Buena Park Collaborative who has recently announced her candidacy for City Council, said Lindbergh has a dark history that the city ought not endorse by keeping the park named after him. She called him anti-semitic, and said, “He believed in eugenics.”
She expressed a desire to keep the aviation theme—the park is near the Fullerton Airport—but suggested they name it after someone else. She offered up two women as suggestions.
Councilman Connor Traut agreed with Sonne, saying in researching Lindbergh, he had found the same troubling things in his past. He acknowledged that he did not want to interfere with the city’s history, but suggested putting up a plaque at the park telling both the good and the bad in Lindbergh’s history, or, like Sonne said, naming it after a female in aviation. He pointed out that all the city’s parks are named after men, and said, “It’s about time we have a park named after a woman who’s done something extraordinary in history,” suggesting Amelia Earhart or Jacqueline Cochran.
The Mayor chimed in, disagreeing with them, saying such individuals in history “should not be punished now for what they did because they later went on to become a hero.”
Likewise, Mayor Pro Tem Fred Smith said he is “proud of Charles Lindbergh,” and that, “People nowadays want to change everything.”
Liberty Hall
A suggestion also was discussed to name Liberty Hall at the Ehlers Event Center after the late Ruth Walp. Walp was the founder of Buena Park Youth Theatre (BPYT) and died this May. Liberty Hall is where productions often were held, and is also where, after her death, many from the community showed up for a celebration of her life, which included performances by BPYT. Walp also served the community in the roles of Fine Arts Commissioner and Soroptimist, and she was active in the Buena Park Community Chorus and Noon Lions Club. The City Council spoke favorably of the concept of renaming “Liberty Hall” “Ruth Walp Hall.”
Mayor Pro Tem Smith said, “That hall was really built for her.”
Rick Gomez Park
It has already been decided that a park in the city will be named after Rick Gomez, another active and beloved Buena Park resident who died earlier this year. He was a Park and Recreation Commissioner and a very popular youth sports coach. However last week the possibility of naming the park “Ruby/Rick Gomez Park” after Rick and his mother was discussed.
One woman who is a close friend of the Gomez family spoke, saying that both Ruby and Rick should be honored in individual ways. Ruby was a volunteer at the Senior Center, so the woman suggested naming a hall there after her, and letting the park be named just after Rick. Someone also mentioned that Rick Gomez’s children want the park named after only him.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith said that naming the park after both of them “defeats the purpose.” He said Ruby “was wonderful,” that he knew her personally, and there was a tree planted in the city in her honor, but that Rick was the “parks man.”
Councilwoman Beth Swift admitted that while she was the one who initially proposed naming the park after both of them, she agrees now that it should be named just after Rick.
All items were simply being discussed in this study session; no firm decisions were made.
The Buena Park City Council will next meet on October 8.
