Seaplane Lagoon waterfront park to be officially named

On Thursday, July 14, the Alameda Recreation and Park Commission will be asked to make a recommendation to the City Council on a name for the park along the north side of the Seaplane Lagoon.  The first phase of the park is complete and open to the public.  Currently the City refers to it as Alameda Point Waterfront Park.  The park was the site of an opening festival on April 9th staged by Rhythmix Cultural Works and West End Arts District.  Other phases will build out the entire northern edge of the Seaplane Lagoon as a waterfront promenade with the western edge being De-Pave Park, an ecological nature park.

In December 2021, the Commission developed the naming criteria for this park, which included aviation and Alameda history, people, and park features.

Since then, the Recreation and Park Department has been doing public outreach and conducting a survey. 

The top 10 names from the survey are, in alphabetical order:

• Alameda Point Promenade
• Bessie Coleman Promenade – The first African-American woman and Native      American to hold a pilot’s license
• Captain Frank McCrary Waterfront Park – Served as the first Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Station Alameda
• Liwa Promenade – The word “water” in the Coast Miwok language
• Maritime Waterfront Promenade
• Navy Veteran’s Waterfront Park at Alameda Point
• Naval View Promenade
• Pacific Fleet Park
• Seaplane Lagoon Promenade
• Waterfront Promenade

Based on the survey results alone, the top three names are Seaplane Lagoon Promenade (24.09%), Bessie Coleman Promenade (19.76%), and Alameda Point Promenade (16.55%).

The Commission may make adjustments to the final name it chooses to recommend to the City Council.

Any name that includes Seaplane Lagoon is the most suitable, in my opinion, for these reasons:

• Seaplane Lagoon is the name of the place where it’s located;
• The only reason that the lagoon was part of the Naval Air Station design was to accommodate the seaplanes that were used for reconnaissance in the mid-20^th Century;
• The four ramps that extend into the water were used to move the seaplanes to a nearby hangar for maintenance.  The seaplane ramps are historical features that will be preserved;
• Seaplane honors the naval aviation history of the site;
• The nearby passenger ferry terminal is named Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal;
• Having Seaplane Lagoon in the park name will maintain place name consistency, making it an easy location identifier.

The staff report for this agenda item is here.

The meeting will be live streamed on the City’s website and also on Zoom. The public can comment during the meeting via Zoom. For more info on watching or participating, visit the City’s webpage for this meeting.

To submit written comments to the commission, send to Amy Wooldridge, Alameda Recreation and Park Director. Comments submitted prior to the meeting will be included in the meeting record, but will not be read.

Originally published in the Alameda Post.