KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency (SCV Water) board approved the addition of the names of Saugus shooting victims to the signage of Central Park on Tuesday, marking the end of a months-long campaign on the part of the children’s parents.
The decision, passed with a 9-3 vote, comes as a relief for the families of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell, two Saugus High School students killed in the November 2019 Saugus Shooting.
“We were definitely emotional, excited, elated last night,” said Bryan Muehlberger, Gracie’s father in an interview with KHTS on Wednesday. “A number of the board members had great comments, though some had reservations… we’ll be working with the City on the final rendition of the sign now that it’s been approved.”
While the Santa Clarita City Council had approved the addition of the phrase remembering the victims of the Saugus High shooting to Central Park’s sign in August, the project could not move forward without the permission of SCV Water.
The City of Santa Clarita leases the 130 acres of land that Central Park is built, with several caveats, including that all improvements are restricted to those that are consistent with a park, and that SCV Water has the right to approve or deny any changes to the name of the park.
See Related: Plans For Central Park Sign Change To Honor Saugus High Shooting Victims Progress
SCV Water Director Ed Colley submitted a report to the board, outlining the reasoning why an ad hoc committee recommended against approving the sign change, cautioning that placing Gracie and Dominic’s name so prominently might alienate the losses of other families or prolong the healing process for other Saugus students, several of which are now suffering from mental scars, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“The loss of every child is a tragedy, and I decline to rank the loss of any one ahead of another. Quite simply, it is not possible to build enough parks or other infrastructure such that every victim of a tragedy could have their name attached,” read the recommendation. “To the extent that two children are singled out for greater recognition than others, we convey a hurtful message to the families of the children not memorialized – your son, daughter, brother or sister, and your loss, is less important.”
Muehlberger noted that he would never try to evaluate the value of the loss that other families might be feeling, stating “losing a child is losing a child,” and that the Muehlbergers and Blackwells hope to acknowledge what the community experienced together and provide healing.
Now that the signage is set to be changed, the families and the City also plan to install a memorial for the two children who lost their lives in the shooting, a process that is still in the development stages, though the Muehlberger’s hope to have the memorial underway if not complete by next summer.
The Muehlberger and Blackwell families stated that they had elected to place the memorial for Gracie and Dominic away from the Youth Grove — another memorial in Central Park which honors the lives of those lost to drunk driving — rather than combining the two in an effort to respect the grieving process for other families.
“Memorializing and doing something for the victims is the most important thing, building a memorial, giving a place for people to mourn, all of these things are healing for the community, as we see in the case of the Youth Grove or the Veteran’s Memorial Wall,” said Muehlberger. “It remembers and honors the lives of those who have been lost or have given their lives for us.”
Muehlberger noted that the road has been a long one for the families, and although the outpouring of community support has been heartwarming, the fact that the families have had to fight for recognition of Gracie and Dominic at Central Park has been discouraging.
“We are getting sick of these battles that should not have to be fought,” Muehlberger said.
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Thankfully, I’ve never lost a child, but if that were to happen I can’t believe that my family would be this desperate for attention. This does not seem healthy. Next year they’ll demand that the children’s names be put on every “City of Santa Clarita” sign. Then we’ll have to name streets after them. Then they’ll want the city itself to change its name. This will never end.
I agree. I said from the beginning this family craves too much attention. What about the other children and firefighters, etc. who have lost their lives. They were on this site constantly trying for this now they got their way. The squeaky wheel! Why did the city cave on this.
I agree!! With Rose, I believe The memorial should be at Saugus High School if at all! Not our public park.
This is just stupid.
That park is where the whole school went that tragic day therefore the dedication is extremely fitting. Not much worse than losing a child, especially in this case. We should also never forget senseless gun violence happens, even in our community and more should be done to prevent it. RIP Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell.
Oh, and Tap Mayhem, I encourage you also to visit Youth Grove in Central Park that serves as a memorial and reminder of the local youth who have died in traffic-related incidents.
We are all aware of the memorial in the park, I have three friends on that list. I think what people are wanting to avoid is this park having the nickname of “Park of Death” or” Death Park”. Living here all my life a lot of parks have nicknames – Robot Park(Santa Clarita Park), Rocket ship Park(North Oaks Park) . Since it happened at SHS their should be a memorial there . Since I went to Saugus I feel it has an even bigger impact for students opposed to those that go to the park for recreation.
I have absolutely no problem with there being a memorial in Central Park. I have visited the Youth Grove. My objection is that this elevates some causes of death as being more tragic than others. If your child dies of leukemia, well this town won’t even acknowledge you. If they died in a car accident, they’ll get added to that plaque over there. But if they were shot, well then you’ve hit the jackpot!
The person I think about the most through all of this is the mother of Wyatt Savaikie. The city refused to allow her to put up her own memorial at the place where he died, less than a mile from Central Park. His murderer received a light slap on the wrist. Wyatt’s death was no less tragic than any other, yet compared to the outpouring over the Saugus HS shooting, that family received a cold shoulder from this community.
It’s that arbitrary judgement of “this kid was worth more than that kid” that I object to.
I agree with you Trevor.
This move has crossed the line and Central Park will officially be known as Park of Death. This memorial should not be forced upon the residents and park users as it has been, making people out to be heartless if they don’t support this effort. Shameful how this has played itself out. Feelings over logic is never the right way to go about life or portraying a remembrance with this kind of recognition.
I agree with Trevor and GetReal!
Well said.
This is just ridiculous and it shouldn’t fly at all! ?
I’ll never understand why this bothers you all so much.
It doesn’t bother me .I just feel the message will be lost due to the location they picked. When your family , like mine has ties to this community dating back to the 50’s you have a larger audience for discussions like this. Since this name change has been brought in the news, I have heard the same concerns from my family, friends ,classmates of SHS and neighbors. The number one thing taken away from this proposal is “Why aren’t they doing it on SHS campus” . I was serious about the nickname Central park has already been labeled as “Death Park”. So I’m really curious to why the City would be onboard while the nickname is already being thrown around. The Saugus community cares which is why a lot homes still have a blue light on their porch out of respect and for some of us we are just asking for this to be looked at one more time before finalizing it.