Post by Dave Hallaway on Jun 9, 2010 17:48:42 GMT -5
www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=12&a=456324
A snippet from the editorial...
Instead, Indian Heights is 40-acre oasis of trees, wildflowers and wildlife, crisscrossed by a network of narrow trails that, on any given day, probably sees more traffic from deer than from people. The terrain is beautiful, but if you visit, bring your GPS unit, good boots and a healthy set of lungs.
People who live near the park like it just the way it is, and we can't blame them. We do, too. However, the proposal by the Rochester Active Sports Club raises some important questions that are worth considering:
• Can a city-owned park be so primitive that it is under-utilized?
• Can dirt trails be cut through a natural area without violating its "green space" status?
• Is off-road biking an activity the city wants to encourage, not merely tolerate?
Put bluntly, we'd answer all of these questions in the affirmative.The sports club is willing to donate its own money, sweat and skill to expand the trail system, and we're convinced that the park can be improved without significant harm to the land or inconvenience for those who live nearby.
Standard idiot comment...
ElGuapo
GoingGalt, MN
Posted on 6/9/2010 at 2:41:13 PM
“Only a person with a death wish would race through this park on a bike, and the proposed new trails will be be even rougher, weaving around large trees and making more sharp turns. This area is for pleasure riding, and that’s the way it would stay.”
Somehow, I disbelieve this statement.
Do you think for one hot second any Mountain Dew chugging teen on a BMX bike is going to do any “pleasure riding” on these trails? Have you seen what the local skateboarders have done to public (and private) property in the past 20 years? And now these same public places are full of BMX “stunt bikers” defacing property.
Twice I have been walking through county or city parks and been nearly run over by BMX bikers racing on narrow dirt paths. DESPITE the fact that there were signs barring such activity.
Suddenly, making these paths more accessable to “pleasure bikers” will keep the riff-raff away?
A snippet from the editorial...
Instead, Indian Heights is 40-acre oasis of trees, wildflowers and wildlife, crisscrossed by a network of narrow trails that, on any given day, probably sees more traffic from deer than from people. The terrain is beautiful, but if you visit, bring your GPS unit, good boots and a healthy set of lungs.
People who live near the park like it just the way it is, and we can't blame them. We do, too. However, the proposal by the Rochester Active Sports Club raises some important questions that are worth considering:
• Can a city-owned park be so primitive that it is under-utilized?
• Can dirt trails be cut through a natural area without violating its "green space" status?
• Is off-road biking an activity the city wants to encourage, not merely tolerate?
Put bluntly, we'd answer all of these questions in the affirmative.The sports club is willing to donate its own money, sweat and skill to expand the trail system, and we're convinced that the park can be improved without significant harm to the land or inconvenience for those who live nearby.
Standard idiot comment...
ElGuapo
GoingGalt, MN
Posted on 6/9/2010 at 2:41:13 PM
“Only a person with a death wish would race through this park on a bike, and the proposed new trails will be be even rougher, weaving around large trees and making more sharp turns. This area is for pleasure riding, and that’s the way it would stay.”
Somehow, I disbelieve this statement.
Do you think for one hot second any Mountain Dew chugging teen on a BMX bike is going to do any “pleasure riding” on these trails? Have you seen what the local skateboarders have done to public (and private) property in the past 20 years? And now these same public places are full of BMX “stunt bikers” defacing property.
Twice I have been walking through county or city parks and been nearly run over by BMX bikers racing on narrow dirt paths. DESPITE the fact that there were signs barring such activity.
Suddenly, making these paths more accessable to “pleasure bikers” will keep the riff-raff away?
