Editorial: A delicate matter of naming parkland Editorial: A delicate matter of naming parkland (January 07, 2004)

Proposal to rename Arastradero Preserve for former City Council member Enid Pearson raises issues of appropriateness and historical accuracy
The proposal to name the 600-plus-acre Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto's lower foothills for former City Councilwoman Enid Pearson is a well-intended effort to honor her for her contributions to the community.

But it has also stirred up objections from others who served on the council in the early 1970s, who question -- or outright challenge -- the extent of Pearson's role in the events that led up to the city's acquisition of the Arastradero property.

Yoriko Kishimoto, the current council member who is leading the naming effort, said her proposal is meant to reflect Pearson's overall contribution to the city in terms of her support for parks and opposition to big developments and street projects.

The question has added delicacy and poignancy in that Pearson is seriously ill, which makes it difficult to discuss the question of the city's naming policy dispassionately. In any circumstances, we question the appropriateness of naming public facilities for living persons, and note that other agencies -- such as the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District -- have naming policies that recognize the sensitivities an open-naming policy can create.

In terms of the Arastradero Preserve, former Mayor Scott Carey and others have noted that Pearson was not even on the council in June, 1976, when the property was acquired as a $7.5 million settlement of a federal-court lawsuit that challenged the validity of the city's 1972 Open Space (OS) zone. She, along with former Councilman Alan Henderson and others, were defeated in the 1975 city election.

The city in 1972 enacted a "downzoning" that required 10-acre lots instead of the earlier one-acre lot minimums for the lower hills. Seven landowners sued, and the city prevailed or settled in six of the cases. But in the seventh and largest Arastradero property case, the city lost -- Judge Robert Schnacke ruled that the city had taken too much of the usable value of the land.

In 1975 the council decided against appealing the case and -- concerned about potential finanicial exposure -- initiated settlement talks that after many months resulted in the acquisition agreement. The "purchase" is now considered one of the best land deals in the city's history, along with the earlier acquisition of Foothills Park.

Pearson did support the 1972 rezoning, along with a majority of council members.

But her truly significant contribution to Palo Alto occurred more than a decade earlier. After years as a community resistance fighter against large developments during a "government by referendum" period in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pearson launched a "parks dedication" initiative ordinance, which was approved by voters in early 1965. The City Council had turned down an earlier request that it dedicate city parklands -- dedication requires citywide voter approval to use the lands for any non-park purpose.

The parks-dedication initiative effort also propelled Pearson (and Byron Sher, now a state senator) onto the City Council, where Pearson continued her efforts to slow or block what she considered unreasonable growth. Her often confrontational, "us and them" style created loyal supporters and dedicated opponents in a highly polarized political environment in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Pearson deserves immense credit for her early efforts to curtail what many today would consider excessive development -- and the city's fully protected parklands are largely her doing.

Some have suggested that naming a park in her honor would be appropriate, perhaps the most recently dedicated parkland in the South of Forest Avenue neighborhood, which would avoid an unseemly debate on who did what relating to the Arastradero Preserve.

But renaming one of the largest of city parklands seems premature, equivalent to renaming Foothills Park or all of the city-owned baylands in one piece -- ignoring or slighting the contributions of many others who contributed votes, energy, vision, effort and ability to the city's priceless legacy of open lands.

The City Council should be deliberative in its review of the historical facts surrounding the Arastradero property and, more importantly, establish policies for naming city parks and buildings prior to moving forward on this specific proposal. Such care will make the final decision all the more meaningful and justifiable.

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