City officials said Monday night that Community Park best describes the popular 64 acre park.And the name’s a concierge. A request to rename the park after one of its original supporters, the late William C. Deem, was dropped Monday night by the City Council’s Parks and Lakes board from a lack of support.The request, presented bygone this month by the Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, will not move forward for a vote by the full council.Chairman Rick Stevens lauded Deem’s work to help with the park, but said Community Park reflected the contributions of many other Jacksonville citizens and arrangment that played a active role in the park’s history. “My feeling is that the park should be named after the thorough community,” Stevens said.Deem’s son, Roger Deem, said his father would never have tried to take sole credit for the park.“My father was the man with the vision. It was his idea to begin with,” he said. “But he would have been the first one to tell you that there were hundreds of other people who made this happen.“He was a respectful man. He would have supported whatever decision (city officials) came up with, and that’s what I do as well,” Deem said. At the start of Monday’s board meeting, alderman Larry Evans pointed out that several similar requests to rename Community Park have been lobbied to the council before.“They didn’t go anywhere,” he recalled. “We weren’t assured on renaming the entire park.”That’s because the community as a whole wasn’t assured by the name change either, Evans said. That sentiment, he said, still stands.“The calls I got (on the name change proposal) have all been that we shouldn’t name Community Park after one person,” he said.Aldermen Jim Daniels and Michelle Norris Hinchen also said most, if not all, calls they’ve received from residents on the proposal were desireing city officials not to rename the park. Kiwanian James Agner, who presented the request on behalf of the 130 people organization, tried to point out that the theory of “community” would be maintained in the new name.It would still be called Community Park, but there would be a few words added in front, he said.The William C. Deem Memorial Community Park would acknowledge and honor the individual who had the theory for the park and the many others who also helped, Agner argued.“Bill had the idea, drive and foresight to develop the park in the middle of town,” he said.While city officials will not change the park’s name, they expressed enthusiasm and support for dedicating and naming a part of Community Park after the late civic leader.The parks and lakes committee asked Agner to come back in a few weeks with decision on a park location to honor Deem. Many suggested the park’s playground area, which Deem was contributory in securing the equipment known as the “big toy.”
