Neil G. Giuliano served as mayor from 1994 through 2004. He was Tempe’s youngest mayor and the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city.

Giuliano is credited with being a part of many landmark developments, including the opening of Tempe Town Lake, the groundbreaking of the Metro Light Rail and the Tempe Center for the Arts.

The park itself is the lakefront park area between the Mill Avenue bridges and stretching all of the way east to the Rural Road bridge. The Hayden Ferry Lakeside office development and condominium project is located adjacent to the park, as is the AC Hotel. The length of the park is about a nautical mile.