Photo courtesy of Friends of the SoPac Trail
It was back in 2010. Felix Saucedo was a part of his neighborhood crime watch for Lakewood Trails. Back then it didn’t really have a name.
An incident happened and when people didn’t know how exactly to describe where it occurred, they decided it was time to name their neighborhood.
It took months to decide on a name.
Board meetings at the local recreation center were filled with neighbors throwing out ideas for a neighborhood name. The list of potential names started with 10 ideas. Slowly but surely, it dwindled down and they were left with ‘Lakewood Trails.’ Eventually, the group was officially known as the ‘Lakewood Trails Neighborhood Association.
Saucedo always knew he wanted to see a trail in his neighborhood. He stumbled upon the knowledge that there was indeed a trail in progress, just not exactly where he was thinking. This trail-in-progress would become known as the SoPac Trail. Today, it spans 5.5 miles long from White Rock Lake North to Greenville Avenue to Meadow Road.
The only issue was that the trail-in-progress wasn’t anything more than a plan. To get it started they needed funding. Funding the plan didn’t fully have at that time.
“The county had the money and they needed the other half from the city,” Saucedo said.
Newly-named and ready for action, members of the Lakewood Trails community joined in on the effort to get funding for the completion of the trail. They were organized by Saucedo and his wife Maggie, who he affectionately refers to as his partner-in-crime. The two then started Friends of the SoPac Trail (FOTST).
Suddenly, they were a long way from crime watching.
A slew of meetings, button-making and applying pressure led to funding for the trail being included in the City of Dallas 2012 Bond Program, according to Saucedo.
Then came a series of construction delays — landing them at a 2020 finish line, right before the pandemic hit.
Despite the challenges, the organization’s community has only grown. Today, FOTST includes residents from the Lakewood Trails Neighborhood Association, Hillside Neighborhood Association and White Rock Neighborhood Association.
The group has several projects and activities planned for the future, all centered around the betterment of the trail, the community and its residents. The work continues.
“We’re not doing what we want, we’re doing what people want,” Saucedo said.
