Historic Petaluma post office renamed in honor of former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey

The historic Petaluma post office will now be named in honor of retired Congresswoman Lynn C. Woolsey, a longtime Petaluma resident who spent two decades in Congress.

Legislation to rename the building in downtown Petaluma was signed last month by President Joe Biden, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, announced Tuesday. Huffman, Woolsey’s successor, authored the bill as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, according to a news release sent by Huffman’s office.

Woolsey retired in 2012 after 20 years representing the 6th Congressional District, which includes all of Marin County and most of Sonoma County.

“It is an honor and really belongs to not only me but to the terrific staff I’ve had over the last 20 years,” Woolsey said. “Without them I just couldn't have accomplished nearly what I did. We’re all very proud of being acknowledged.”

The Seattle native was “a passionate voice for progressive values — unflinching in her convictions and ahead of her time in many ways,” Huffman said in the release.

“Lynn Woolsey is remembered in Congress and around the North Bay as a one-of-a kind, barrier-breaking trailblazer and a lifelong advocate for women and working families,” he said.

A Petaluma City Council member until 1992, Woolsey was elected to Congress in 1993 with 65% of the vote.

She advocated for protecting more of the North Coast from offshore oil drilling, led a measure to provide job-protected leave for family members of injured soldiers and advocated for school programs and social welfare.

But what Woolsey said she is most proud of was her role as an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War. She wrote the first bill to stop the war and spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives nearly 500 times, making national headlines in 2006 for giving a guest pass to George W. Bush's State of the Union address to anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.

Woolsey said she’s proud of playing a role in Huffman’s successful efforts to turn the Sonoma County coast into a marine sanctuary.

“Both Mike Thompson (D-Healdsburg) in Sonoma County and Jared Huffman are great representatives,” she said. “And as an 84-year-old woman, who retired 10 years ago but after 20 years, I can be retired in peace because of their representation, but I feel a lot of disquiet over the fact that this country and this world are in such a bad place.”

Woolsey and her office also delivered millions of dollars to the North Bay, including $9 million for a Petaluma River flood control project and $52 million for a seismic retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge, according to the release.

Woolsey added that she has hope in the next generation, calling on people to vote and “save our democracy.”

“I’m looking forward to working with the Petaluma post office to find a date for the renaming ceremony to celebrate the incomparable Ms. Woolsey,” Huffman said in the release.

The post office building, located at 120 W. Fourth St. in Petaluma, was completed in 1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8511 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @alana_minkler.