Confederate name will be removed from Fort Worth park; new name will be Unity Park

After 95 years, Jefferson Davis Park in south Fort Worth is set to become Parque Unidad/Unity Park.

The City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday night to rename the park. Councilmen Jungus Jordan, Brian Byrd and Cary Moon voted against the new name, which was recommended by the Park Board.

Byrd suggested that the council wait until January to vote, possibly keep the name and erect a statue of a civil rights leader in the park. Byrd said adding a statue would provide a “much richer experience.”

“I want to have a discussion about it,” Byrd said. “We haven’t had any. I want to explore other options.”

Moon said he didn’t want to vote either. He wanted the Park Board to reconsider naming the park after Patrick Zamarripa, a Fort Worth native and Dallas police officer who was killed in a July 2016 ambush in downtown Dallas.

The Zamarripa name does not meet the city’s park naming policy.

Jefferson Davis Park was named in 1923 after the president of the Confederacy. The 8.6-acre park is at 4001 Townsend Drive, off Seminary Drive, in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.

The Park Board recommended Unity Park after an online petition signed by thousands seeking a change was brought to its attention. The petition was started after the August march by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., and a national movement to remove Confederate statues and monuments.

Councilwoman Ann Zadeh, whose district the park is located in, said the neighborhood is ready to have a park reflect where they live. She said she’s working with the Zamarripa family on a memorial in Echo Lake Park where Zamarripa played youth baseball.

“I’m ready to move forward with this,” Zadeh said.

The sign on the park will be changed within 30 days, said Richard Zavala, the city’s park and recreation director.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Confederate name will be removed from Fort Worth park; new name will be Unity Park."