Dublin council names new parks

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Sep 7, 2007 | by Sophia Kazmi

DUBLIN -- Working off a list of names proposed by residents, the City Council has picked names for three new parks in East Dublin.

A two-acre neighborhood lot located at the Villages at Dublin Ranch will be named Devany Square, after Michael Devany, an Irish immigrant who moved his family from San Francisco to the Dublin area in 1858. Devany, a farmer, died in 1890 and is buried at Dublins Pioneer Cemetery.

It will be located next to the Promenade, a future shopping center bordered by Chancery Lane and Finnian and Parnell ways.

Also Tuesday, the council approved Piazza Sorrento as the name for a two-acre park next to Passotasso Recreation Center, bordered by Aviano, Palermo and Capoterra ways.

Passatempo will be the name of a five-acre park next to the future Kolb Elementary School. It will be located in the Sorrento development, which has Italian-style architecture.

The names were chosen from 92 suggestions that included: Green Acres, Ravioli Park, Squirrel Park, Jackal Meadows, Pasta Park and Bird Nest Park.

Also at Tuesdays meeting, the City Council voted to join the National League of Cities, which Dublin hopes will help its officials network with and lobby federal officials.

Membership will cost Dublin $1,720 a year. The city will also have to foot the bill for the cost of attending conferences, which are held twice a year, usually on the East Coast or in the Midwest, as well as transportation and boarding for attending those conferences.

Councilman Tony Oravetz was the lone dissenter.

We get all of that with the League of (California) Cities right now, Oravetz said.

Oravetz pointed out that only four other cities in Alameda County have joined the national organization: Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont and Livermore.

The council voted in favor of joining the organization 4-1 and will approve membership and the fee amount at its next meeting.

Sophia Kazmi covers Dublin. Reach her at skazmi@bayareanewsgroup.com or 925-847-2122.