CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will consider naming Austin Park’s playground in memory of a little boy who died last year in the worst shooting in the city’s history.
Council members will discuss the proposal to name the playground after 4-year-old Skyler Rapp when it meets this Thursday, Oct. 11.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. It will be broadcast live on TV8.
City Manager Joan Phillipe’s report to the council explained that community member Yolanda Hernandez originally requested that Highlands Park be renamed for the child, who died on June 18, 2011.
Skyler died and five others were wounded– including his mother, stepfather, family members and friends – when Paul Braden and Orlando Lopez Jr., both of Clearlake Oaks, shot into the family’s Lakeshore Drive yard late that night.
The shooting had resulted after disagreements between the child’s family and friends of the two assailants.
Braden and Lopez were both convicted earlier this year, with each sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for the shootings.
Phillipe reported that a meeting of city officials that took place before her arrival last fall resulted in the suggestion to rename the playground rather than the entire park, which Phillipe said is consistent with a public parks and facilities naming policy the council approved at its Sept. 13 meeting.
She said that in reviewing the file on the request and having spoken with Hernandez, “this seems to be a fitting recommendation.”
She said there are minimal financial implications for naming the playground, and city staff will install the naming plaque.
In other business, the council will look at adopting an ordinance establishing regulations for taxi cabs and for-hire vehicles within the city limits and and discuss a candidate forum policy for the use of the city council chambers and for broadcast on TV8, the cable access station housed in city hall.
Also on Thursday, the council will consider reappointing Councilman Curt Giambruno to the Lake County Vector Control Board and will receive a briefing from the design team on the Lakeshore Downtown Corridor Study.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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