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"Equestrians Say 'No Way!' to Mountain Bikes on City Trails "
I wonder how in the world "misinformation" can be "based upon personal
experiences"? First-hand personal experiences are the data of science. Mike http://www.theequestriannews.com/new...railsnoway.htm By Nancy Cole Mountain bikers looking to gain entry to Los Angeles City Parks met with unified opposition from hikers and equestrians, who refused to give an inch in two meetings convened by the city's newly formed Bicycle Master Planning Committee (BMPC) at L.A. City Hall. Held under the auspices of the Off-Road Bicycle Policy Stakeholder Advisory Group, the meetings seem to be the result of the well-funded bicyclists' increasingly aggressive efforts to expand their territory for recreational riding beyond the state and county parks and into city parks, where they're currently prohibited. While bicyclists say it is a matter of fairness*that all residents should have equal rights to enjoy city property*the equestrians are concerned about the potential hazards of combining horses and mountain bikers on what are often steep and narrow trails. The meetings, held April 15 and May 13, were intended to be neutral and exploratory, but it did not go unnoticed that everything from the name chosen for the committee to the groups hired to do the fact finding have cyclist leanings. Los Angeles Department of Transportation's (LADOT) Michelle Mowery, senior coordinator for Bicycle Outreach and Planning, said the city has contracted to pay $450,000 to Alta Planning and Design for services related to bicycle planning. The discussion stemmed from a plan to tap into stimulus funding for cyclist commuting that has expanded to include mountain biking in parks. Alta*the League of American Bicyclists' "Gold" winner for Bicycle-Friendly Business of 2008*in turn hired the Boulder, Colorado-based Osprey Group to facilitate the meetings of nine community members. The bikers and the equestrians were each represented by three individuals, while the Sierra Club represented the hikers. While some might call Osprey a lobbying firm, its Web site says the company works to "facilitate the formulation and implementation of public policy." Having exerted itself on behalf of the bikers on prior occasions, it is no stranger to that world. In a letter sent out in February on City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning letterhead and co-signed by City Planner Helene Bibas and Bike Plan Project manager Jordann Turner, recipients were advised that L.A. is "looking to develop opportunities for mountain bicycling within some city parks." To that end, it is working with the Osprey Group, which seeks representatives from the riding, hiking and biking sectors to represent their constituencies at meetings. The mailing went to members of the L.A. Horse Council, Equestrian Trails Inc. (ETI) and the L.A. Trails Project, along with members of the Los Angeles Sierra Club and mountain biking enthusiasts. According to the letter, Osprey's role would be to mediate between equestrians, hikers and mountain bikers, "exploring equitable solutions that increase mountain biking access." The mere mention of mountain bikes on L.A. City Park trails sent a string of e-mails through the Los Angeles equestrian community, which quickly banded together to voice its opposition. Many said they believed they were being herded into a discussion whose outcome was predetermined and questioned the use of Osprey, an out-of-state mediator with no knowledge of L.A. City parks and with previous ties to Alta and the cyclists. "Why did the city have to spend for a simple mediation between parties that didn't agree and go to Colorado to find experts that deal with putting mountain bikes on trails?" asked Mary Benson, president of the L.A. Trails Project. "Osprey is a mountain bike mediation group." She also questioned the role of LADOT in the discussion of mountain biking, which she calls "an extreme sport," on park trails. "That's clearly recreational, not transportation," she said. "They just about steamrolled right through us," said ETI national coordinator Lynn Brown, who was one of the panel's equestrian voices, along with Benson and Dale Gibson. "I'll bet this tactic has worked in small towns, where you have [fewer] battle-hardened folk to defend against it*but not here," she added. The meetings were facilitated by Osprey's John Huyler. In addition to projects dealing with outdoor advertising and studies involving the road development and planning, Huyler's credits as stated on the group's Web site include training and formatting services for the Bicycle Leadership Conference, an annual event focused on "strategies for expanding the use of bicycles." Equestrians and hikers were largely unified in their opposition to mountain bikers, and at times disagreement between the factions became heated and accusatory. Sierra Club member Joe Young accused the Osprey Group of being overly influenced by the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and faulted each of the sessions for not allowing public comment. Although the two meetings were open to the public, comments were limited to the community representatives. Gibson, a Hollywood stunt rider, continued to stress the importance of safety, and he questioned why mountain bikers don't have private facilities for their activities, just as equestrians have. "Why should the city pay to provide this?" he asked, noting that there would be an increased insurance risk for the city if mountain bikers were allowed into city parks. Jim Hasenauer, a member of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (MBA) said the city has "a duty to provide for the recreational needs of bikers. It wasn't the original mandate, but now, to the extent it tries to meet the recreational needs of the people of L.A., they should be investigating how to make this happen." At the end of the second session Huyler tried to find middle ground on which all three groups could agree. Other than to ask the L.A. City Council for more money to maintain and map trails within city parks, the nine participants, each representing their own constituency, found no room for common ground. Huyler and co-mediator Dennis McDonald ended the session saying they were returning to Colorado, "where people are friendlier." While equestrians believe they may they have dodged a bullet in the fight over the future of L.A. City Parks' equestrian and hiking trails, many, like Brown, believe this is only the first shot by a powerful lobbying group. "They'll be back," Brown predicted. "We still have to see how Osprey files their report." Bicyclist Aaron Kirsh, a member of the L.A. Bicycle Advisory Committee, said he was disappointed that "the process had gone nowhere." Michael Goodman, with the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association, apologized for losing his temper during the discussions and said that he found the process "disagreeable." A summation of the findings by the Osprey Group is expected to be given to the Bicycle Master Planning Committee over the coming weeks, and only then will the findings be made available for public comment. "We'll internalize it and put it into the policy for the bicycle plan," said the Bike Plan Project's Turner, who said that "a lot of misinformation based upon personal experiences" will make the study particularly difficult. -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
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