Title
Renaming the Olympia Woodland Trail the "Karen Fraser Woodland Trail"
Recommended Action
Move to recommend to City Council the Olympia Woodland Trail be renamed the "Karen Fraser Woodland Trail."
Report
Issue:
Whether to recommend to City Council that the Olympia Woodland Trail be renamed the "Karen Fraser Woodland Trail."
Staff Contact:
Jonathon Turlove, Associate Director, Parks, Arts and Recreation, 360.753.8068
Presenter(s):
Jonathon Turlove, Associate Director, Parks, Arts and Recreation, 360.753.8068
Background and Analysis:
The Woodland Trail is a regional paved walking/biking trail that spans Olympia and Lacey and connects to the Chehalis-Western Trail. The portion in Lacey is named the "Lacey Woodland Trail" and the portion in Olympia is named the "Olympia Woodland Trail."
On August 2, 2017, the Lacey Board of Park Commissioners recommended to Lacey City Council that they rename Lacey's portion of the Woodland Trail after Karen Fraser. Lacey's General Government Committee will be taking up this issue at their September 11th meeting.
Karen Fraser has been a trailblazer in the region. She was Lacey's first female councilmember, and in 1976 was elected as Lacey's first female mayor. Ms. Fraser went on to serve eight years as a Thurston County Commissioner and four years as a state representative. She was elected to the Washington State senate in 1993 and served as a state senator until December, 2016.
Senator Fraser has been a strong advocate for park projects in Olympia and in the region. She consistently supported strong funding levels for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, a major funding source for local park projects. Perhaps most notably for Olympia's parks, Senator Fraser was also instrumental in Olympia receiving two major state appropriations for Percival Landing reconstruction, one for $3 million in 2010 and one for $921,500 to be utilized for the upcoming bulkhead replacement project.
Neighborhood/Community...
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