November 3rd, 2008 - Posted By: Brad Liljequist

I am quickly finding I really enjoy doing these zHomepeople posts, because I learn a lot about people that I’ve been working with for a long time.  Such is the case with this post.

Mayor Ava Frisinger has a long standing commitment and orientation to the environment, in her words “the relationship of people and ecology”.  She was raised in rural Michigan, where the local farming community, and its rootedness to the Earth, helped form her thinking about human/environmental connections.  The Michigan wildlands – seen via canoe, hikes, and birding outings – also formed an early environmental ethic.  A major in English literature and an equal emphasis on biological sciences reflected these connections, and served to articulate and strengthen them. 

In 1967, Mayor Frisinger moved to Issaquah.  The City then had 4,000 residents, compared to the current 27,000.  The Mayor found Washington “unspoiled”, and felt even then a strong commitment to protecting that heritage.  In 1982, she was appointed to the Planning Commission, and sat on the City Council from 1986 to 1994, and also in 1996 and 1997.  In 1998, she was elected Mayor, a role she has served in to this day. 

Mayor Frisinger is known regionally as an innovator in sustainability and the environment.  She was an early advocate of the Issaquah Highlands and Talus urban villages, which were a new regional paradigm for contained, livable, walkable communities as an alternative to suburban sprawl.  Work with the Planning Accreditation Board and the Global Action Plan Eco Team program in the mid 90s gave her an exposure to sustainability that resonated with her already established values.  A sustainability symposium in Canada further heightened her interest, leading to establishment of the City’s Resource Conservation Office. 

zHome is lucky to count the Mayor as one of its strong supporters.  She has made the project a high priority, and has helped move it forward during its long and winding path.  But it will be just one part of the larger legacy she will leave the City.