Take Back Oak Lawn co-founder Lee Daugherty addressed the Dallas Park Board committee considering a name change for Oak Lawn Park. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

The Dallas Park and Recreation Board voted 11-3 this morning [Thursday, April 4] to change the name of the former Lee Park/current Oak Lawn Park to Turtle Creek Park.

When the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from the park in 2017, city officials decided to temporarily return to the park’s original name of Oak Lawn Park. Several groups submitted applications for a permanent name. Two were considered — an application from Take Back Oak Lawn to make Oak Lawn Park the permanent name, and an application from Turtle Creek Conservancy, which runs the park, to name it Turtle Creek Park.

Take Back Oak Lawn Co-Founder Lee Daugherty spoke at today’s Park and Recreation Board committee and general board meetings in favor of retaining the name Oak Lawn Park. Park board officials expecting tempers to flare at the meeting had brought in extra security.

While Take Back Oak Lawn members argued that stripping away the Oak Lawn name was intended to make the LGBT community invisible, black speakers pointed out that when the park carried the Oak Lawn name in the early 1900s, only whites were allowed to use the park.

Gay Donnell, president of the Turtle Creek Conservancy, said there is no intention to strip Turtle Creek Park from Oak Lawn or disenfranchise the LGBT community. “The LGBT community is welcome in the park,” she said, adding that she hopes to find new ways to include the community in park activities.

Addressing the committee that would recommend a name to the full board, Daugherty pointed out that most of the people who signed the petitions for the Turtle Creek name were from the high-rises surrounding the park. “A broader community uses the park,” he told the committee.

When one committee member asked if Take Back Oak Lawn and the Conservancy “sat down” together, Daugherty said, “Those discussions didn’t happen.”

Daugherty told the committee that he lives just a few blocks from the park and that whatever the name, he’d continue using the park because it was his favorite park. He called it “the jewel of the city.”

The committee was interested in how the LGBT community has used the park in the past, and Daugherty listed a number of events including the Pride festival, LifeWalk and Easter in the Park.

After hearing what he expected to be a bashing of the conservancy and the park board, the committee chair told Daugherty, “You have the same goals we have.” Park board President Bobby Abtahi had the same reaction after Daugherty spoke to the full board and complimented him on his graciousness.

The name change however, came down to marketability. Conservancy board members who spoke said they believed they’d be able to market the park with the Turtle Creek name more easily than with the Oak Lawn name.

Motions were made to delay a vote on the name in both committee and on the full board, but failed each time. The delay would have given Take Back Oak Lawn and members of the LGBT community time to talk to the Conservancy before voting on the change. One board member suggested a compromise name: Turtle Creek Park in Oak Lawn, but a separate application would have be submitted to consider that name.

In committee, the name change to Turtle Creek Park passed 3-2 and the full board voted to change the name by 11-3.

The name change is immediate and can’t be reconsidered for 60 years.

— David Taffet