Seattle Parks and Recreation has named the new park at the corner of California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Eddy Street "Morgan Junction Park," despite a petition signed by 130 members of the community requesting that the park be named after the late West Seattle Herald reporter Tim St. Clair.

The parks department explained that park naming policy requires a person be deceased for at least three years if a park is going to be named after them. St. Clair died from cancer just one year ago.

Morgan Junction Park was acquired with 2000 Pro Parks Levy and King County funds, and is under development, also with Pro Parks Levy funds, as a piazza-like space with green edges, a U-shaped public gathering space with seating, a central lawn, and a prominent tree in its southwest corner.

The parks naming committee considered 17 different nominations, and after applying the criteria in the park naming policy, unanimously recommended the name Morgan Junction Park because it acknowledges the history and location of the park, they said.

The Morgan Junction Park will be dedicated at 10 a.m. on June 13, just before the Morgan Junction Festival begins.