Anchorage Assembly to consider naming Girdwood pavilion for John Trautner

The Anchorage Assembly will hold a public hearing Wednesday, Nov. 4, on a memorandum that would name the new pavilion at Girdwood Lions Park "The John Trautner Pavilion." Assembly Chair Anna Brawley of West Anchorage and Assembly Members Zac Johnson and Keith McCormick of South Anchorage sponsor it.

Trautner moved to Alaska in 1953 and to Girdwood in 1969, where he lived for 53 years. He served as the community's fire chief, sat on the Girdwood Board of Supervisors and owned the Texaco station on the Alyeska Highway from 1977 to 1995. He helped charter the Girdwood Turnagain Arm Lions Club in 1992, and the Public Naming Commission's memo calls him instrumental in the vision for the pavilion. He died in 2022, so the city's 36-month waiting period after a death before naming a place for someone has passed.

Girdwood Parks and Recreation and the Lions Club planned the pavilion to increase park use, according to a Girdwood Board of Supervisors resolution. It sits across from the children's playground and tennis courts. The Lions Club raised $27,000 to secure a grant to build it.

The Girdwood Board of Supervisors, which serves as the area's parks authority and community council, backed the name 4-0 on Aug. 17. The Public Naming Commission then voted 5-0 to recommend it. The naming packet holds 11 emails sent to the clerk between Aug. 31 and Sept. 8, all in support, from writers including Lions Club members and Trautner's widow.

Residents can testify in person Nov. 4 or submit written comments through the Assembly's testimony page.