At its Sept. 28 meeting, the Sunnyvale City Council finally chose a name for the new downtown plaza—Plaza Del Sol. The name was selected from a group of 10 suggestions that the Sunnyvale Parks and Recreation Commission had previously whittled down from the hundreds of names submitted by Sunnyvale residents.

But the decision-making process was a difficult one, as council members lightheartedly bantered about their choices—and enjoyed the many off-the-wall suggestions that the public submitted to the city, including "Barnum & Bailey Plaza," "Whatawaste Plaza" and "It's 'Sunnyvale' not 'Sunny Dale,' Fool Plaza."

"I'm actually going to save the list. It's a piece of history in itself," Councilwoman Julia Miller said. The 410 entries that made up the master list—and yielded 260 different choices—were accepted through a contest announced at the State of the City on July 4.

Parks and Recreation Commissioner Robert Locke attended the Sept. 28 meeting to explain the process by which his commission arrived at the 10 suggestions.

Locke said that at the Aug. 25 parks and recreation commission meeting, each commissioner selected 10 preferred names. The top choice of each commissioner automatically made the list, and the rest of the 10 were chosen through assigning point values to the ranks of the remaining names.

Those 10 got one more name to compete with once they arrived in front of the city council. Vice Mayor Dean Chu first made a motion to add a suggestion from the master list to the final 10—Plaza of Heart's Delight—which passed with a 4-3 vote. Councilman Otto Lee, attending the meeting via teleconference from Falls Church, Va., then motioned to add Bing Plaza to the final list to honor the Asian American immigrant who initially began cultivating that variety of cherry. The motion failed 3-4.

"I'm sorry, Otto, but I can't get 'Chandler Bing' out of my head," said Councilwoman Melinda Hamilton.

Through a rapid series of votes, the list of 11 names quickly shrank to three final choices, with some council members grumbling that their selections were being erased before they were given an opportunity to discuss their merits. "The ones I wanted—Community, Diversity—are no longer there," said Councilman Ron Swegles.

The council then ranked the remaining three choices—Heritage Plaza, Plaza Del Sol, Plaza of Heart's Delight—and five council members ranked Plaza Del Sol as their first choice. Hamilton had asked early in the meeting about the art that's soon to be installed in the plaza, which Robert Walker, head of the parks and recreation department, confirmed would be pieces of fruit on pedestals.

"We're talking about fruit, so it seems as though the name should fit in with what the art is going to be, and Orchard Plaza didn't make the list," Hamilton said. "Plaza Del Sol, to me, speaks to both to our history with the orchards and to the diversity of the city."

Miller agreed and pointed out that Plaza Del Sol was nominated 13 times by members of the public and that other variations, such as Sun Plaza, were also mentioned.

After some deliberation over proper voting procedure, a motion to approve the name Plaza Del Sol passed, with Swegles and Councilman Fred Fowler dissenting. Fowler had previously pushed Heritage Plaza as his choice.

"Was that easy?" Chu asked.

Mayor John Howe replied with a chuckle. "Don't go there," he said.

The parks and recreation department will now work on signage for the plaza, as well as the possibility of a formal naming ceremony.