Time to play 'Name That Trail'
Anyone can try, but there's a frontrunner. Parks employees want to honor a man who helped create the East-West path.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published July 16, 2006
We'll just come right out and ask.
Do you think the name Clearwater East-West Trail is a bit pedestrian?
Perhaps a might too geographic?
Or even boring?
If so, you may have a shot at renaming it.
But not so fast. Although the folks at Clearwater's Parks and Recreation Department will consider all entries, they already have an idea of what they want to call the 4.3-mile path used by thousands of joggers, skaters and bikers every week.
They want to name it after the man who was largely responsible for creating it: Ream Wilson, the city's former parks and recreation director, who retired in 1997 after 30 years.
When Wilson's successor, Kevin Dunbar, called Wilson to tell him the news, he was modestly surprised.
"Ream's a low-key kind of guy," Dunbar said. "At first he was a bit overwhelmed that nine years after he retired from the city we would want to honor his legacy. But without his leadership, there wouldn't be a trail," Dunbar said.
It would be called "the Clearwater Ream Wilson Trail, something like that," Dunbar said, adding that city officials would like to keep the word "Clearwater" in the new name.
Wilson could not be reached for comment Friday.
Wilson worked for the city for three decades, and according to a 1997 story in the St. Petersburg Times he was responsible for creating more than a dozen new parks, including Moccasin Lake Nature Park. He also oversaw the planting of more than 40,000 trees in the city.
The trail is still a work in progress. Presently, it winds its way from Safety Harbor to Clearwater, making its way through Cooper's Bayou Park, Del Oro Park, the Eddie C. Moore Recreation Complex, Cliff Stephens Park, Moccasin Lake Nature Park, the Community Sports Complex, Northeast Coachman Park, Coachman Ridge Park and the Long Center.
Eventually, it will connect Tampa Bay to Clearwater Beach, Dunbar said. It will also serve as a link between the Pinellas Trail and the proposed Florida Progress Trail.
"I spoke with Ream regarding the trail and of course he was very humble," said Art Kader, Clearwater's assistant parks and recreation director. "But he was the one who acquired all the properties. It all really occurred under his leadership."
The city's Parks and Recreation Board will hold a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Long Center, at 1501 N Belcher Road, to consider what to name the trail.
You can submit a suggestion by picking up a form at the Parks and Recreation Department, Room 120 at the Municipal Services Building, 100 S Myrtle Ave., or by calling (727) 562-4832. Forms should be returned to Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 4748, Clearwater, FL 33758-4748, no later than Aug. 16.
The City Council will make the final decision.
Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.