Board votes Progress Point site to be called Seven Oaks Park
The recommendation for the name of the new park will be taken up by the City Commission next week
By Beth Kassab
The soon-to-be constructed new park at the corner of Orange Avenue and Denning Drive will be called Seven Oaks Park if the Winter Park City Commission follows the recommendation of an advisory board at next week’s meeting.
The name for the property known as Progress Point won out over other contenders in a public contest with 702 online votes cast. Seven Oaks Park received a clear majority — 485 votes — compared to 114 votes for Progress Point Park and 89 for Gateway Park, according to a city memorandum.
This week the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board voted to elevate Seven Oaks Park as its recommendation to the City Commission, which will meet on Wednesday.
Last year the city planted seven mature oak trees on the property acquired by the city to become a green refuge amid the highly developed Orange Avenue corridor and, one day, potentially serve as a sort of “greenway” to connect other nearby parks such as Mead Botanical Gardens and Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
A groundbreaking event to kick off construction is scheduled for April 13, according to the memo.
Seven Oaks Point sounds like the title of a soap opera.
Why, I do declare! Certainly someone will raise the similarity to the “Twelve Oaks” plantation in “Gone with the Wind,” with all that slavery, and we’ll have to cancel the “Seven Oaks” name.
I didn’t like any of the names and told them so. Consider how will young and old residents and out of area guests tell someone where they are going or where it is. Seven Oaks Park has NO relevance to our community.
Perfect
Seven Oaks Park seems like a good choice. I remember watching the beautiful trees go in and being delighted with their size. They are gorgeous, spaced beautifully and will give shade to a park that is surely going to be a wonderful addition to our city. The name suits it.
I love the name and appreciate everyone’s efforts.
BTW, there already is a “Twelve Oaks” in Winter Park so that’s a nonissue anonymous poster.
No one came forward and demanded 12 Oaks be changed when a tree or two came down. (Please don’t alert Bonnie Jackson)
I like Seven Oaks because it stands for a signature asset to the City which other nascent “new urbanism” towns don’t share.
Why not tout a city prize – trees.
Okay then name it Prize Park. Residents surely won on this one.
Thanks for educating me on the prior “Twelve Oaks” in WP. Clearly, that was named before the PC police and woke initiative took over the world.
I hope you will change the policy of publishing anonymous comments. Thanks.
Hi Sarah, this is Beth Kassab. I agree this is something we need to look at. Not sure yet what the possible solutions, if any, are on this platform, but we will take a look. Thank you!
Unlike Sarah Sprinkel, I hope the long-standing policy of allowing anonymous posts and pseudonyms never changes at the Voice. The fact that the FB page is no longer public is also unfortunate. Sometimes there is virtue and sometimes there is safety in anonymity. The content of any post can be afforded whatever weight the reader chooses to afford it. Why pretend that this is not the case.
In the current environment, our speech is very much restrained by social rules imposed by activists and amplified by media. The result is all public speech is limited within specific boundaries. Journalism no longer can tolerate certain discourse.
The expression of support for a mechanism that inhibits and necessarily shapes discussion of public issues is repugnant to the idea of an open, issues-based journalistic endeavor.
It’s not a good look but what can you expect from 2023 journalism?
Great idea for a park. No one wants more 5 story multiuse buildings. Keep that in Baldwin Park.
Great name.
Hoping the fountain they place in this park is significant.
Great idea for a park. No one wants more 5 story buildings. Keep that in Baldwin Park.
Great name.
Hoping the fountain they place in this park is significant.
Why not the name Seven Oaks Park since Winter Park has always been famous for its stately trees.
The poets know the importance of the Oaks: “Those green-robed senators of mighty woods, Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars, Dream, and so dream all night without a stir.” John Keats
As does Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks. Bearded in moss and in garments green, in distinct in the twilight, stand like Druids of eld…”
No Druids or hemlocks in WP, but I still like the image!
I like your ideas, Nora.
In the years to come, I am sure these seven oak trees will become heritage trees. Thank you to the current commission for the foresight to plant them. I too like the name Seven Oaks Park. And I also agree with Sarah Sprinkel and hope the Voice will stop publishing anonymous comments. We can agree to disagree without sarcasm. Let’s be civil and kind.
In 1921, Edward Bok (of Bok Tower fame) said of Winter Park: “the most upstanding, the most civically awake, the cleanest and prettiest town in Florida…You have in Winter Park a very beautiful town reflecting a civic spirit that many other towns might well emulate.”
In 1881 Chapman and Chase received their first deed to the property that would become Winter Park and promptly plotted the town with a 10 acre park to be planted…
1887 A Winter Park Improvement Association was organized. Object, to plant trees…
Seems Winter Parkers value their parks and trees. Job will done Winter Park! (“Chronological History of Winter Park”)
Edward Bok (of Bok Tower fame) said Winter Park was:
“The most upstanding, the most civically awake, the cleanest and prettiest town in Florida…You have in Winter Park a very beautiful town reflecting a civic spirit that many other towns might well emulate.”
In 1881, Chapman and Chase (founders) received their first deed establishing Winter Park and then promptly plotted a 10 acre park to be planted…
In 1887, A Winter Park Association was organized. Object, to plant trees!
Job well done Winter Park!
I, too, like the name Seven Oaks Park. It highlights the importance of our tree canopies as being fundamental to our city image.