MUKILTEO — Better wait to order new signs for Mukilteo Speedway
The mayor’s proposed amendment was officially rejected this week.
“I don’t know whose great idea it was to rename the Mukilteo Speedway. Maybe it was mine,” Mayor Joe Marine said bluntly at Monday’s council meeting. “That’s what happens when you stay up too late thinking about things.”
The section from Beverly Park Road to First Street is officially part of Highway 525, but has been called the Mukilteo Speedway for decades.
“I’ve been here for almost 30 years now and it always seemed strange to me that our main street is called Speedway,” Marine said.
It makes sense, he said, “to design our main street to reflect Mukilteo and its history.”
Marine reached out to the city’s Historical Society, Chamber of Commerce and Tulalip Tribes for input before asking council members in an April work session to discuss the public survey as a first step. He got the green light.
A post on the city’s Facebook page asking for feedback on renaming the street received a whopping 600 comments, almost all of which were against it. It turns out people like the name and don’t like change. Everyone will keep calling the street Speedway anyway, many said.
In May, the city launched an online public survey that received about 2,000 responses. Not bad for a city of 21,000, although the survey was not limited to residents. After all, much of the traffic at Mukilteo Speedway, where the speed limit is between 25 and 40 miles per hour, comes from outside the city.
The city’s online survey evaluated four name suggestions: Mukilteo Lighthouse Parkway, Mukilteo Point Elliott Highway, Mukilteo Salish Highway and Mukilteo Salish Sea Parkway.
Suggestions for a name were also requested. Mukilteo Speedway won by an overwhelming majority.
The question of whether the name should be changed triggered polarized reactions.
“The good news is that we engaged our community,” Marine said. “The bad news or good news, depending on how you look at it, is that 77.35% of people said ‘no’ to the renaming.”
This obviously speaks volumes, he said.
“The recommendation from the administration is that we support Mukilteo Speedway,” Marine said. “As the saying goes, ‘Be careful what you wish for.'”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; [email protected]; Twitter: @Reporterbrown.
