Fresno’s newest park deserves a worthy name, not a run-of-the-mill label | Opinion

Go big or go home!

That is what the City of Fresno must do when it comes to selecting the name of the new — and long overdue — 49-acre regional park in the city’s southeast.

Thursday morning, the city council is expected to grace the park with the not-so-inspiring name of Southeast Fresno Sports Complex. Councilmember Brandon Vang calls the complex “the crown jewel” of District 5.

Vang prefers Southeast Fresno Sports Complex for the park on South Peach Avenue between Butler and Church.

“This is a sports complex and so it’s different than naming a building,” Vang said at a press conference last week. “In the future, there will be opportunities for the city and for southeast residents to name, perhaps, individual amenities after members of the community or whatever their wishes are, but we’re trying to be inclusive.”

The first phase of the park is expected to open next August, the the entire three phases completed in five years.

There were 20 amenities listed on Vang’s preliminary park design and most of them could potentially be named in honor of residents.

The National Park Service donated the land to the city in 2006 on the condition that it be converted into a park or green space. A city effort to build a vocational school at the site sputtered and died.

The site is a former federal agricultural research facility, whose labs bred peaches and developed table grape varieties. Peach Park, an obvious nod to the site’s history, was the runaway choice of an online poll conducted by the city. Runners up were Seed and Stone Park, and Heritage Harvest Park.

Southeast Fresno Sports Complex is as dull as Fresno Air Terminal. As unimaginative as ordering vanilla at an ice cream shop with dozens of flavors. As sleep-inducing as naming your dog Fido.

A $12 million facility deserves better than a 2-cent name.

In a city of 540,000 that has inspired artists like Juan Felipe Herrera, singers like Audra McDonald and inventors like James Porteous (see Fresno Scraper), there is surely an imaginative soul who can inject some pizzazz into the city’s fourth regional park.

Even some of the other names that were submitted online are better: The Grove, The Vineyard, Vine and Legacy Park, Golden Fields Park, Peach and Vine Park, Harvest Horizons Park, and Arbor Legacy Park.

Southeast group pushes different name

There is a push by the Southeast Fresno Community Economic Development Association (yes, that’s quite a mouthful and deserves a shorter name) to have the new park named after community leader José León-Barraza, the association’s former CEO.

They have a point. It was León-Barraza and his group that kept the dream of a regional park for southeast Fresno residents alive when the city didn’t have the financing to build the park. Not only did the group pressure the city for a state-of-the-art park, but held marches and rallies to nudge City Hall into supporting a soccer complex.

“Naming the park after a respected community figure would reinforce the valutes of leadership, teamwork, and empowerment that this project represents,” SEFCEDA wrote in a March press release in support of the park being named after León-Barraza, who ran unsuccessfully for the council seat that Vang captured in a special election this spring.

What the park will feature

Southeast Fresno has long lacked green space. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land ranks Fresno’s park system 98th among the country’s largest 100 cities, with parks accounting for 2.5% of the city’s total area.

The park will help fix that, thanks to $8.5 million the city allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act. Other funding came from Measure P.

The complex will include soccer, cricket, baseball and pickleball sports fields —a ll with state-of-the-art turf. It will also feature a large green space, walking path and shaded picnic and barbecue areas.

“What we want to provide is a very inclusive park that provides activities for everyone,” said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer at the press conference where the park name was announced. “We want this park to be all things for all people, and that’s how we’re designing it.”

Earlier this year, the council voted for Peach Park but decided to wait until the vacant District 5 seat was filled to defer the naming of the park. Thursday, the council voted 6-1 to back Vang’s preferred title: Southeast Fresno Sports Complex.

If only the park had a better name.

This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 4:30 PM.