Template revised January 10, 2019.

COMMISSION

AGENDA MEMORANDUM

Item No.

ACTION ITEM

Date of Meeting

October 27, 2020

DATE: October 20, 2020

TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director

FROM: Christina Billingsley, Sr. Program Manager, Environmental Engagement

Stephanie Jones Stebbins, Director, Maritime

Sally del Fierro, Director, Community Engagement

Sandra Kilroy, Director, Maritime Environment and Sustainability

Elizabeth Leavitt, Sr. Director, Engineering, Environment and Sustainability

SUBJECT: New Names for Duwamish River Parks and Habitat

Amount of this request:

$0.00

Total estimated project cost:

$0.00

ACTION REQUESTED

Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to adopt the new names for six

Port-owned public access and habitat sites along the Duwamish River as determined through the

community engagement project, “Incredible Parks Want Incredible Names.”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Port and Seattle Parks Foundation launched the “Incredible Parks Want Incredible Names”

community engagement project this summer to rename six Port-owned parks and shoreline

habitat sites along the Duwamish River. The six sites include: Terminal 105, Terminal 107,

Terminal 108, 8th Ave South Street End, Turning Basin 3, and the currently under-construction

Terminal 117. After a three-month public nomination and scoring process that engaged over

12,000 unique visitors through the project website, new names will be publicly “revealed” at the

October 27th Commission meeting. Each of the new community-sourced names reflect the

cultural, historical, and environmental significance of each site and satisfy the criteria set forth

by the Commission and community partners at the start of the project.

JUSTIFICATION

The “Incredible Parks Want Incredible Names” (IPWIN) project connects Port-owned public

access sites along the Duwamish River to their ecological, cultural, and historical significance

while raising awareness of the Port’s Century Agenda goals supporting salmon recovery and river

habitat. Launched during the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, the Port has partnered with the

Seattle Parks Foundation, a well-recognized public parks and greenspace non-profit, to design

and implement the re-naming project with transparency and community involvement.

COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 7a Page 2 of 6

Meeting Date: October 27, 2020

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

The six parks, among the last remaining public access sites along the Duwamish River, are

currently named after geographic markers or previous industrial purposes, including: Turning

Basin #3, 8th Ave South Park, Terminal 117, Terminal 107 Park, Terminal 108/Diagonal Street

Public Access, and Terminal 105 Park. The Park Profiles section of the IPWIN website offers

information about each park and explains their connections to these languages and the

communities who speak them.

The selected names represent the diversity of people and their experience with each park, final

community-sourced names appear in the English and Lushootseed languages and meet the

community and Commission-supported criteria that it must reflect each site’s cultural, historical

and or environmental importance.

The new names will be shared widely in public signage and Port outreach. In consultation with

tribal historians, the Port will ensure linguistic accuracy, pronunciation and legibility for all names.

A legend on how to read and pronounce the Lushootseed names is available below:

Lushootseed Name Formatting Guide:

Example: sbəq

waʔ Park & Shoreline Habitat (sbaqwah, “s-bah-qwah,” "Great Blue Heron”)

1. Lushootseed in Lushootseed Character Style

2. Lushootseed in Romanized Character Style

3. “English Phonetic Pronunciation of Lushootseed”

4. English translation of Lushootseed

Former name

New name

Terminal 105 Park

uʔəlaltxʷ Village Park & Shoreline Habitat (Toolalt, “t-oo-ah-

lal-too-wx”: Herring’s House / A description of where herring

live and spawn / Name of an old village site on the west bank

of the Duwamish River)

Terminal 107 Park

həʔapus Village Park & Shoreline Habitat (haapoos, “ha-ah-

poos”: Name of a small stream draining across a flat on the

west side of Duwamish River)

Terminal 108 Park/Diagonal

Public Access Site

sbəq

waʔ Park & Shoreline Habitat (sbaqwah, “s-bah-qwah”:

Great Blue Heron)

Terminal 117 Public Access

and Shoreline Habitat

Duwamish River People’s Park & Shoreline Habitat

Turning Basin #3

Salmon Cove Park & Shoreline Habitat

Ave South Street End

ałt

ałucid Park and Shoreline Habitat (tathtathootseed, “t-

ahth-t-ahth-oots-eed”: Where there is something overhead,

across the path / A description of logs or branches located

above a path or trail)

COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 7a Page 3 of 6

Meeting Date: October 27, 2020

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

As part of the announcement ceremony on October 27

, an exclusive weblink will be shared

during the unveiling of the final park names for the video premiere of The Power of Our Stories,

produced by Fern Renville and Roger Fernandes. Storytellers from the Suquamish, Muckleshoot,

and Duwamish communities share Coast Salish stories conveying the importance of community,

culture, the environment and the Duwamish River. These connections and values are shared in

the six new park names.

Diversity in Contracting

DETAILS

Project Overview: In Spring 2020, Seattle Parks Foundation and Port staff began a planning

process centering inclusion, community voice, and empowerment and convened a Review

Committee to influence the design of the project. In Summer, the project deployed videos,

interactive-3D social media featuring community histories and fun facts of each park,

distributed door-to-door print material in sync with community partner activities, and more to

get out the word. The project collected over 3,500 name nominations from the public, which

were screened for eligibility and then shortlisted by the Review Committee. In Fall, the project

issued a call for public scores and collected rank-choice preferences from over 1,500

participants. Finally, the Review Committee analyzed the public scoring results, selection

criteria, and Commissioner feedback to select final names for each park. Commissioners

provided feedback throughout all three phases of the project and will have the opportunity to

formally adopt the new names through passage of a Motion on October 27

Phase 1 – Planning for Inclusive Community Engagement

• From March to July, the Seattle Parks Foundation and Port staff project team designed an

outreach strategy that centers equity. These actions included:

• Convened a Review Committee representing key park user perspectives: environmental

stewards, historians, workers, Tribal and cultural heritage experts, youth, and neighboring

community leaders. The Review Committee supported inclusive decision-making

throughout the process. Committee meetings blended group discussion, “progressive

stack” facilitation, with confidential scoring practices to ensure fair and free participation.

• Review Committee informed the name selection process, eligibility criteria, outreach

plans, decision-making strategies, and other project processes.

• Development of racial equity best practices throughout the project.

• Stakeholder mapping and disaggregated census tract data to identify potential park

stakeholders.

• Early consultation and ongoing dialogue with leaders from key community-based

organizations, Indigenous leadership, and coordination with Port leadership.

• Active inclusion of communities of color histories and experiences related to each park or

geographic area.

COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 7a Page 4 of 6

Meeting Date: October 27, 2020

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

• Accessible communications strategy to accommodate access needs for multilingual and

multi-generational park users.

Phase 2 - Public Nomination Period

From July to September, the project implemented this strategy with the following actions:

• Deployment of videos and interactive, 3D social media featuring community histories and

fun facts of each park.

• Translation of print materials in 4 languages: Spanish, Khmer, Somali, Vietnamese.

• Door-to-door drop-offs of nomination materials in synch with community partner

activities.

• Set up of voicemail and text-based nomination options, enabling elders and others with

digital literacy or internet access barriers the opportunity to participate.

• Outreach to industries, businesses, cultural and historical preservation organizations,

environmental and community stakeholders connected to each park.

• Outreach to Port stakeholders including former Port Commissioners, select Employee

Resource Groups, and Duwamish River-related project teams.

Phase 3 – Public Scoring Period

• After an eligibility check, names went through multiple rounds of scoring and evaluation

by the Review Committee to best match the selection criteria (ie: demonstrate each site’s

cultural, historical or environmental importance).

• These names were shortlisted to a “top three” list in which the public participated in a

rank-choice scoring opportunity. Over 1,500 people submitted their preferences.

• The Review Committee analyzed the public scoring results, selection criteria, and

Commissioner feedback form to select final names for each park. Commissioners

provided feedback throughout all three phases of the project and will have the

opportunity to formally adopt the new names through passage of Motion 2020-20 on

October 27

FINDINGS: Public Involvement Period

Significant Public Participation: At the close of the nomination phase on Sept 1st, the project

received 3,366 nominations. Online platforms included names in Spanish, Vietnamese, Somali,

and Khmer languages, 11 were received via voicemail, and 3 nominations were received via text.

During the public scoring period, over 1500 individuals ranked the top three shortlisted names.

Website traffic since the start of the project tracked 23,000 pageviews with over 12,000 unique

visitors from July 24

to September 30

Common Themes for New Names: The majority of nominations were for Duwamish and

Indigenous heritage terms, words, or concepts. Notably, ancestral place names stood out, while

other Lushootseed names depicting cultural, wildlife, and natural features were also popular. In

addition, the following themes showed statistical significance: general northwest flora and fauna

terms; salmon and salmon-related; “transformation” and “change over time” concepts;

COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 7a Page 5 of 6

Meeting Date: October 27, 2020

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

river/spiritual names around the river cleanup; generational heroes; maritime names; and

Spanish and Jewish cultural names.

Common Themes for Park Value: The nomination form asked the public to describe what they

value about the parks. Responses included themes such as: access to green space; connection to

nature and wildlife (especially birds); connection to Indigenous heritage of the city; rejuvenation,

hope, sense of peace; refuge in the city; appreciation of free and public access year round; loving

the river, access to the river, riverfront, boating; unique, rich history of each site; well maintained;

and the ecological stewardship, cleanup efforts, volunteering opportunities at the parks.

Common Themes for Park Improvements: The nomination form asked the public to describe

what they would like to see improved at the parks. This request for data was suggested by

Commissioners early in the project design. Responses included themes such as: increased

recognition at the parks regarding Coast Salish Indigenous and Duwamish heritage; returning

land to the Duwamish and Indigenous peoples; more trees and native plants; good maintenance

to improve and continue; better bike, public transit and pedestrian safety; connecting

trails/signage, including a crosswalk to Longhouse at Terminal 107 Park; more signage about

history and Indigenous rights; access to bathrooms that are clean and open all year; amenities

like drinking water access, benches, and picnic tables.

Scope of Work

Schedule

ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Annual Budget Status and Source of Funds

Financial Analysis and Summary

COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 7a Page 6 of 6

Meeting Date: October 27, 2020

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

Future Revenues and Expenses (Total cost of ownership)

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST

(1) Motion 2020-20

(2) Presentation slides

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