September 28, 2004

SUBJECT: Name the Sunnyvale Plaza- Recommendations from Parks and Recreation Commission

REPORT IN BRIEF

On June 8, 2004 when considering recommendations from the Parks and Recreation Commission for an official name for the downtown Sunnyvale plaza, (See RTC #04-200) the City Council decided to temporarily call it "Sunnyvale Plaza" and announced a contest to officially give it a name. In addition, the Council directed the Parks and Recreation Commission to review the contest entries and narrow them down to the Commission's recommended top ten names for Council consideration. Staff then embarked on preparations for the "Name the Plaza" Contest. Entries were received via email, drop boxes and mailed to the Department of Parks and Recreation. Entry forms and drop boxes were also available during the State of the City event on July 4^th and the Sunnyvale Plaza opening event on July 7, 2004. Overall, 410 entries were received, presenting 260 different names for consideration. (Attachment A, 04-314a)

On August 11, 2004 the Parks and Recreation Commission held a study session to consider processes they might use to determine the ten best entries.  On August 25, the Parks and Recreation Commission adopted a process resulting in a recommendation that City Council select the plaza name from the following list of ten names shown below, in alphabetical order, with no priority or ranking assigned:

BACKGROUND

On June 8, 2004 when considering recommendations from the Parks and Recreation Commission for an official name for the downtown Sunnyvale Plaza, (See RTC #04-200) City Council decided to temporarily name it the "Sunnyvale Plaza" and announced a contest to officially give it a name. It was further decided to announce the contest on July 4 at the State of the City Event, promote the contest through the City's Quarterly report, and KSUN and make the selection of the official name in a regular Council meeting sometime in late Summer or early Fall. Council also directed the Parks and Recreation Commission to review all of the names submitted and narrow them down to ten names for Council consideration at a future Council meeting.

EXISTING POLICY

Council Policy 7.3.10: Naming/Renaming Parks & Recreation Facilities (Attachment B)

DISCUSSION

Staff promoted the contest at the State of the City event on July 4^th, at the Sunnyvale Plaza opening event on July 8^th and by Public Service Announcements which were printed in the Quarterly Report, the Sunnyvale Sun, on KSUN, and listed on the front page of the City's Web pages. A temporary email address for contest entries was also established that forwarded them to the Department of Parks and Recreation. In addition, boxes along with contest entry forms were left at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center Recreation Building, the Public Library and City Hall lobby for the duration of the contest. The contest entry forms and information included the City's policy related to choosing a name for a public park, and the deadline for entries was set at 5:00pm on August 11, 2004.

Overall, 410 entries were submitted. Of these, 253 were submitted via the contest entry boxes available during the two public events and left in the City buildings mentioned above. In addition, 81 entries were submitted via email, 69 arrived via U.S. postal service and the remaining 7 were faxed in or dropped off at the Administration's office. Where the entry forms included more than one name, or more than one variation of a name, or were submitted anonymously, staff included all entries on the list of names to be reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission. In total, 260 different names and variations were submitted over the seven-week contest period.

Knowing that the list of entries to choose from would comprise over 200 names, the Parks and Recreation Commission met on August 11^th in study session to discuss methodologies they might use to recommend their top ten names.

On August 25, 2004, the Parks and Recreation Commission held a public hearing to determine the ten names it would forward on to City Council for further consideration. (Please see "Recommendation" section.)

FISCAL IMPACT

None 

PUBLIC CONTACT

Public contact was made through posting of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Council agendas on the City’s official notice bulletin board, posting of the agendas and report on the City’s web page, publication of the Council agenda in the San Jose Mercury News, and the availability of the report in the City Clerk’s office, Library, Parks and Recreation Administration, Community Center and Senior Center.  

ALTERNATIVES

1.      Officially select a name for the Sunnyvale Plaza from among the names provided by the Parks and Recreation Commission shown above.

2. Select an alternate name as suggested by City Council for the Sunnyvale Plaza.

3.  Other action as determined by Council.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the official name given the downtown plaza not include the word 'park'. Staff anticipates that this open space will serve purposes different than a traditional park, and the word 'park' in an official name could create false expectations by the public. This may be particularly true for those deciding to live in close proximity to downtown (e.g., "When is the city going to install a playground in our neighborhood park?") Aside from this one concern, staff makes no recommendation for a name for the downtown plaza site.

On August 25, 2004, the Parks and Recreation Commission met in a regular meeting and recommends Council choose a name for the Sunnyvale Plaza from the following list of ten names, which are presented in alphabetical order and with no assigned ranking or priority:

Prepared by:

Cathy E. Merrill
Assistant to the Director of Parks and Recreation

Reviewed by:

Robert Walker
Director, Parks and Recreation

Approved by:

Amy Chan
City Manager

Attachments (pdf format)

A. List of names submitted during "Name the Plaza" contest

B. Council Policy 7.3.10 Naming/Renaming Parks & Recreation Facilities