It’s been years since Ron Nagai, former president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, began advocating to name a massive new park in Porter Ranch after his beloved community.
Since the day it was proposed about five years ago, the new park that stretches across 50 acres in Porter Ranch has remained unnamed — and a center of controversy.
In 2018, then-Councilmember Mitch Englander proposed to name the park after his family members and to call its open-air pavilion after himself. But his push came to a screeching halt after the FBI launched an investigation of corruption at City Hall that eventually sent Englander to a federal prison.
Residents and community groups, including members of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, have proposed about dozen names for the park, including Porter Ranch Community Park and other names that focus on the land and its beauty.
Englander, mired in a corruption scandal, stepped down from the City Council in December of 2018, and proposals for the park’s name poured in from residents and community groups who suggested names such as Porter Ranch Park, Coyote Park at Porter Ranch, and Shangri La Park. The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians proposed Sesevenga Community Park because the land is in the tribe’s traditional area. Sesevenga means “the place of the sycamore woods.”
For some in Porter Ranch, the concept of naming their nature park after a prominent figure has gone sour.
In 2019, the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council reviewed several names linked to the land, and voted in support of the word “community” and “Porter Ranch Community Park.” The neighborhood council recommended naming the facility’s amphitheater the “Sesevenga Pavilion” in honor of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians.
Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee, who replaced Englander, has proposed naming it the “Jane and Bert Boeckmann Park” after the late philanthropists and owners of the Galpin Motors…
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