Should city honor Wedaa for contributions?
Councilwoman Jan Horton has suggested naming the Community Center after eight-term City Council veteran Hank Wedaa as one option for honoring Wedaa’s 30 years of elected city service, a record which won’t be equaled under current term-limit laws.
Other ideas for recognizing Wedaa’s civic contributions include naming the Black Gold Golf Course clubhouse, driving range or entrance road for the five-time mayor or adding his name to the Council Chambers or City Hall entrance plaza.
Wedaa was part of a low-density, slow-growth slate that took control of the council in the city’s second election in 1970. He was re-elected five times, took a two-year break before winning a seventh term in 1996 and was elected to fill an 18-month vacancy in 2007.
While Wedaa’s achievements are too numerous to list in this column, he did develop a slew of political enemies during his council service and seven years as a director of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
He opposed the Imperial Highway widening project and Measure B, requiring a public vote on major zoning changes, but he supported the city-owned Black Gold Golf Club.
Only one other council member has had a city facility named after him. Roland Bigonger Park located between Imperial Highway and Fairmont Boulevard in south Yorba Linda is named for the nine-year councilman, who served as the city’s first mayor 1967-68.
Bigonger was a key player in preserving the Nixon birthplace in the 1960s and 1970s and in acquiring the Presidential library and museum when he returned to the council in 1986.
One-term Councilman George Machado, chief architect of the 1972 low-density General Plan, is noted on a plaque on the horse trail at Imperial Highway and Casa Loma Avenue.
Hurless Barton Park south of the Community Center is named after the first city treasurer and 1959 winner of an annual mayor’s election conducted by the Chamber of Commerce prior to incorporation. A school-aged Barton arrived in Yorba Linda in 1912 and in 1924 he purchased Liberty Garage, which later became a Chevrolet dealership.
Parks were named for writer Jessamym West, Girl Scout and YMCA leader Lucia Kust and civic leader Jean Woodward, the latter in a “name the park” contest. The Phillip S. Paxton Equestrian Center on Buena Vista Avenue honors the 1972-92 Planning Director.
The Susanna Bixby Bryant Ranch Museum and Garden, Thomas Lasorda Jr. Field House and coach William Cobb ball field at Veteran’s Park also are named to honor individuals.
A FINAL NOTE
Residents who have other suggestions for honoring Wedaa or wish to comment on the ideas mentioned in this column are invited to e-mail jimdrummond@hotmail.com, and I’ll tally the results for a future column.
Other ideas for recognizing Wedaa’s civic contributions include naming the Black Gold Golf Course clubhouse, driving range or entrance road for the five-time mayor or adding his name to the Council Chambers or City Hall entrance plaza.
Wedaa was part of a low-density, slow-growth slate that took control of the council in the city’s second election in 1970. He was re-elected five times, took a two-year break before winning a seventh term in 1996 and was elected to fill an 18-month vacancy in 2007.
While Wedaa’s achievements are too numerous to list in this column, he did develop a slew of political enemies during his council service and seven years as a director of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
He opposed the Imperial Highway widening project and Measure B, requiring a public vote on major zoning changes, but he supported the city-owned Black Gold Golf Club.
Only one other council member has had a city facility named after him. Roland Bigonger Park located between Imperial Highway and Fairmont Boulevard in south Yorba Linda is named for the nine-year councilman, who served as the city’s first mayor 1967-68.
Bigonger was a key player in preserving the Nixon birthplace in the 1960s and 1970s and in acquiring the Presidential library and museum when he returned to the council in 1986.
One-term Councilman George Machado, chief architect of the 1972 low-density General Plan, is noted on a plaque on the horse trail at Imperial Highway and Casa Loma Avenue.
Hurless Barton Park south of the Community Center is named after the first city treasurer and 1959 winner of an annual mayor’s election conducted by the Chamber of Commerce prior to incorporation. A school-aged Barton arrived in Yorba Linda in 1912 and in 1924 he purchased Liberty Garage, which later became a Chevrolet dealership.
Parks were named for writer Jessamym West, Girl Scout and YMCA leader Lucia Kust and civic leader Jean Woodward, the latter in a “name the park” contest. The Phillip S. Paxton Equestrian Center on Buena Vista Avenue honors the 1972-92 Planning Director.
The Susanna Bixby Bryant Ranch Museum and Garden, Thomas Lasorda Jr. Field House and coach William Cobb ball field at Veteran’s Park also are named to honor individuals.
A FINAL NOTE
Residents who have other suggestions for honoring Wedaa or wish to comment on the ideas mentioned in this column are invited to e-mail jimdrummond@hotmail.com, and I’ll tally the results for a future column.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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