Lawsuit Filed Over Renaming of Park

A lawsuit has been filed in an attempt to overturn a decision to rename Centinela Park in Inglewood for former Mayor Edward Vincent, who was elected to the Legislature in November.

Carl McGill, a Los Angeles Police Department officer and an Inglewood mayoral candidate, is seeking a permanent injunction to keep the park’s original name. The park has had the same name for nearly 80 years. “You don’t mess with the history of the city,” McGill said.

On Nov. 26, the City Council suspended an ordinance prohibiting the renaming of city parks. The council then voted 3 to 1, with Councilwoman Judy Dunlap opposed, to rename the park for Vincent, who was elected the city’s first African American mayor in 1982. The park was dedicated as Edward Vincent Jr. Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

McGill said one of his objections is that a politically biased ad hoc committee was established to make a recommendation to the council about renaming the facility. The committee included Councilman Curren Price, City Clerk Hermanita Harris, City Atty. Howard Rosten, Inglewood school board President Gloria Gray and Superior Court Judge Roosevelt Dorn, now a mayoral candidate.

“They circumvented the system having this ad hoc committee that basically were Ed Vincent’s friends,” McGill said Tuesday.

But the city attorney said the committee represented a cross-section of Inglewood.

A hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 20 in Torrance Superior Court.