Seattle Parks and Recreation Department announced yesterday that a park on Capitol Hill was to be named Perugia Park, after the Italian city in which West Seattle resident Amanda Knox was recently convicted of murder. Today they changed their mind.

Tim Gallagher, Superintendent of the department said, "Due to community concerns about the naming of Perugia Park on the heels of the recent verdict in the criminal case involving Seattle resident Amanda Knox, we will temporarily shelve the naming process for this park. We will take up the process again in the spring."

The name was originally chosen based on a recommendation from the public to the Park Naming Committee. The proposed park site is at the northeast corner of East John Street and Summit Avenue East.

Chris Mellas, Amanda's step-father told the West Seattle Herald that when he first heard about the proposed naming on Dec. 30th, "I think it's disgusting. I'm dumbfounded."

Perugia is one of 21 "Sister Cities to Seattle and there is an organization that promotes this relationship that has existed since 1991.

The Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association states on its website these words regarding Amanda Knox's verdict:

"This tragedy has affected so many lives and families. While we hope for an eventual outcome that everyone will accept as fair and just, we should not confuse this unfortunate and painful incident with the long and robust Sister City relationship between Seattle and Perugia. That friendship and mutual respect continues, as does the life of our ancient sister city."

"The timing (of naming the park) was completely coincidental," said Mike James, before the news came in that the name would be shelved. He is a former TV anchor and senatorial candidate who, with his Italian-born wife, Donna, established Perugia as a sister city. "We've been talking to the Perugia (Sister City) association for years. My understanding was that they were after an urban park with art."

James said he did not want to postpone the naming.

"We felt we owed the community of Capitol Hill a response.

"We're delighted with the name. The Knox trial doesn't define our relationship with Perugia and we're not going to let it destroy that relationship."

The City of Seattle stated in a press release:

"The Park Naming Committee unanimously recommended to the Superintendent that the park be named in honor of our longstanding relationship Perugia. Centrally located in the middle of Italy’s “boot” and north of Rome, Perugia became a Sister City to Seattle in 1991. It is the capital of the region of Umbria, and its major exports are chocolate and other food products. Perugia has a Seattle Sister City park named Orca Park, which features “Sister Orca,” a sculpture created by Seattle artist Marvin Oliver and dedicated in July 2008.
Perugia Park is located at the northeast corner of E John Street and Summit Avenue E. The .22-acre park was acquired in 2007 with funding from the 2000 Pro Parks Levy and a matching grant from the King County Conservation Futures Tax. This space on the western slope of Capitol Hill will be developed into a neighborhood park and P-Patch. Construction is projected to begin in the spring. Development funds will come from both the Pro Parks Levy and the P-Patch Program.
There are six other parks that bear the name of Seattle’s Sister Cities. They are: Beer Sheva Park (Israel), Bergen Place (Norway), Kobe Terrace (Japan), Nantes Park (France), Daejeon Park (Korea) and Tashkent Park (Uzbekistan). Seattle has Sister City relationships with 21 cities. For more information about the Sister City program, visit: www.seattle.gov/oir/sistercities/