City dumps controversial park name | Politics

First it was Perugia Park, then it went nameless for a year, and now it’s Summit Slope Park.

The .22 acre park on Capitol Hill has been through a lot in its brief life.

The park was originally slated to be called Perugia Park, in honor of Seattle’s Italian sister city. All that changed when Seattle’s Amanda Knox was convicted of murdering her British roommate while studying abroad in Perugia.

Just after Knox was convicted in December, 2009, then-Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher said the city would hold off on officially naming the park due to community concerns about the Perugia name.

Now, more than a year later, acting superintendent Christopher Williams announced he’s scrapping the Perugia name altogether in favor of the less controversial Summit Slope Park.

Mike James, president of the Perugia Sister City Committee, downplayed any disappointed he might have with the renaming, choosing instead to concentrate on the positive aspects of the relationship between the two cities.

“You can’t let the outcomes of a trial define a city, any more than we would want that to happen to Seattle,” he said. “What you have to focus on is the friendship, because legal matters come and go.”

James admits the naming fiasco created an added strain on the relationship between the sister cities, but he said his Italian counterparts are more confused than angry about the decision

“There’s more puzzlement on their end,” he said. “The thing that’s become clear through all this is that there are two trains running: one is the friendship we’ve had for almost 20 years and the other is the trial. “

James is hopeful the relationship will withstand this controversy, and his committee is already working with the city on another, so-far unnamed park that will better reflect the culture of Perugia.