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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor announces new trail name: 'Cheslahud Lake Union Loop'
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
4/23/2008 10:30:00 AM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alex Fryer (206) 684-8358
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Mayor announces new trail name: ‘Cheslahud Lake Union Loop’
Name honors Duwamish chief who lived along Lake Union
SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels today announced the new six-mile trail around Lake Union will be named “Cheslahud Lake Union Loop” in honor of a Duwamish chief who led a village located on Lake Union. The mayor chose the name from suggestions submitted by the public in a naming contest.
“Naming this new trail after Chief John Cheslahud honors the legacy of the first stewards of Lake Union – the Duwamish tribe,” Nickels said. “Once completed, the six-mile-long loop will link our past to our present, providing a unique setting to explore the beauty and history of Lake Union, described as one of the most diverse urban lakes in the nation.”
Last year Nickels proposed, and the Council approved, spending $1 million in 2008 to develop a six-mile pedestrian and bicycle trail around Lake Union. By joining existing trail segments into one seamless lakefront trail, the project will link the Fremont, Wallingford, University District, Eastlake, South Lake Union, and Queen Anne neighborhoods to Gasworks and South Lake Union parks. This project will implement a key recommendation of the Seattle Parks Foundation’s “Bands of Green” Report and complete an unfinished piece of the original Olmsted park plan for Seattle.
Some parts of the trail already exist and the city owns rights-of-way that will be developed for the remainder of the trail; no land acquisition is required.
Map of trail - Acrobat PDF
Sample sign post - JPG
Existing northbound Fremont Bridge approach - JPG
Proposed northbound Fremont Bridge approach- JPG
The loop will serve walkers, runners and cyclists, improving the connection between lakefront neighborhoods, downtown, the University of Washington and the Burke Gilman trail. The loop will link 35 street-end parks and waterways and the lake’s history will be presented through signage, viewpoints and other installations.
The city will work with the Seattle Parks Foundation to leverage its $1 million investment with targeted fundraising for specific projects, and will invite community “sweat equity” to help complete trailside plantings, restore native shoreline habitat, improve waterfront and small boat access, and make many other improvements to enhance the public’s use of the trail. Investments will be used to:
- Complete spot safety improvements to ensure safe bike and pedestrian use;
- Install integrated signage with a loop logo and map;
- Fill key gaps in the loop along Westlake Avenue south of the Fremont Bridge, at the eastbound approach to University Bridge, and at other key locations;
- Support a community initiative to improve street ends to create new pocket parks, and enhance existing ones;
- Develop a plan and design to identify the best alignment along Fairview Avenue through the Eastlake neighborhood; and
- Install signs and exhibits to interpret key historic landmarks.
Phase I work, expected to be completed by late fall 2008, includes:
- Extending the path along Westlake Avenue to meet the Fremont Bridge;
- Creating a new pathway from Burke-Gilman to University Bridge/Peace Park;
- Posting directional signage;
- Improving bike lane and trail connections north of the Fremont Bridge to North 34th Street;
- Improving sidewalks north of the Fremont Bridge; and
- Holding a clean up event south of the Fremont Bridge.
A final master plan and design for the Fairview Avenue alignment is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
Cheslahud was a renowned leader of a Duwamish village on Lake Union and travel guide to Lake Union, Lake Washington, and Lake Sammamish in the days when waterways, not roadways, connected villages. For more information, visit this Web site: http://www.duwamishtribe.org/html/lake_john.html
The common anglicized spelling of Cheslahud’s name closely approximates the pronunciation “Ches-La-Hud.” But his name is also spelled “Cheshiahud.”
John Halliday, Cheslahud’s great great grandson, spoke at today’s event. Halliday is the operations manager for the Muckleshoot Tribe and an enrolled Muckleshoot Tribal member.
“I am honored that the city of Seattle has chosen to name the Lake Union path after my great great grandfather Cheshiahud, remembering the ancestors of the Indian People who once inhabited these shores with their thriving villages and longhouses. We should honor them by loving our mother earth as much as they did. We need to remember the words of the city’s name sake, the late Chief Seattle: ‘In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land’.”
Four people suggested “Cheslahud” be used as part of the trail name. The mayor drew their names to determine who received which prize. The first-place winner, Michelle Stokke and the second-place winner, Zee Grega will each receive a bicycle donated by REI; the third-place prize, a cruise for four around Lake Union donated by Argosy Cruises, went to Mike Johnson and the fourth-place winner, Becky Hutton, will receive a $50 gift certificate donated by Outdoor & More.
Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm
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Office of the Mayor
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