"[Equestrians and hikers] don't want to share [trails]"

[Mike Vandeman]

Sent to: "Chris Kangas" <c_ka...@hotmail.com>,"'Ryan, Elish'"
<Elish...@PRK.SCCGOV.ORG>, <mike.wa...@bos.sccgov.org>,
<queta....@bos.sccgov.org>, <dave.c...@bos.sccgov.org>,
<ken.y...@bos.sccgov.org>, <liz....@bos.sccgov.org>,Paul
Nam <voc...@yahoo.com>,"Ted Stroll" <teds...@yahoo.com>

"'exclusive' trails that are not open to cyclists"

It is utterly AMAZING how mountain bikers continue repeating these
lies, I guess in the belief that people will fall for them!
Equestrians and hikers have NO PROBLEM sharing trails with mountain
bikers! In fact, ALL trails are already open to mountain bikers. All
they have to do is WALK, just like everyone else (of course, they are
apparently too LAZY to walk). I don't see how they think insulting
everyone will help their cause....

Mike


From: "Chris Kangas" <c_ka...@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Good Things about Calero and SCCO Parks and Rec
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 06:55:26 -0800

To net this out and not obfuscate the issue with a meandering
dialogue:
Santa Clara county parks has traditionally been very pro multi-use and
relatively progressive with their current trail development, and much
of what remains closed to cyclists is the result of legacy trails and
rules that have not been examined for some time. I was reminded of
this during a great ride that I had yesterday at Grant Ranch. Some of
the trails there that are closed to cyclists are merely short cattle
trampled fire roads that connect between two multi use fire roads. As
plans are updated, things like this need to be modified, for
consistency within the park, and across county parks.
As Paul mentions, we have seen this type of update happen with Harvey
Bear and Sanborn-Skyline.
That's what makes the this whole issue with Calero so egregious. The
public planning process was followed, the Nov preferred alternative
(itself a multi-use compromise) was released, only to be subverted
after the fact by the strong lobbying of those who don't want to
share. The "new and improved" preferred (by a few, not most)
alternative is severely flawed and inconsistent with the county's
overall strategic vision for multi-use, even if the current project
planners have tried to convince the public that it best fits
everyone's needs.
It is critical that we don't lose sight of the lack of larger loop
options and safety issues presented by having to ride on McKean and
Casa Loma roads, in order to circle back to Rancho Canada Del Oro or
to Calero itself. It is also worth noting that the Feb alternative has
many of the non-multi use trails slated for destruction, only to be
rebuilt to more sustainable multi-use standards, without opening them
up to multi-use. This means that our tax $ that feed the county parks
charter fund will be subsidizing a network of new "exclusive" trails
that are not open to cyclists.
The next parks meeting is coming up:
Wednesday, March 7th is the next SCCo Parks and Rec commission mtng,
6:30 pm.

County Government Center -

Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, California 95110.

And your attendance would be very helpful. I'll be there.
In addition, if you've not already written to Elish Ryan and your
county supervisors, to express your displeasure with the new Feb
"preferred alternative", please do so:

Elish...@prk.sccgov.org

mike.wa...@bos.sccgov.org; queta....@bos.sccgov.org;
dave.c...@bos.sccgov.org; ken.y...@bos.sccgov.org;
liz....@bos.sccgov.org;

That's all for now. I'm off to spend the day with state parks,
building some fully multi-use trail which can be and is currently
enjoyed by hikers, cyclists, and equestrians without conflict.

Chris