New Search
5. It seems that since the time when I contacted your office and Sept 21 <br /> when a copy of the Riner email was sent to me, a dog leg connector trail <br /> has been built between the remaining trail and the area behind the <br /> relocated (sic) sign. <br /> The mouth of the new trail portion, sign placement and orientation, <br /> to my knowledge, does not meet national standards for a multi -use <br /> recreational trail (This portion of the Ridgeline Trail was funded for use by <br /> both mountain bikes and hikers. Funding and labor was solicited and <br /> accepted by the city specifically under terms that it would be maintained <br /> as such.) <br /> For the year since the trailhead was destroyed no temporary signage <br /> was installed to aid the public in accessing what was left of the trail. <br /> I have since been contacted by Phil Richardson, who agreed to meet me at <br /> the site and walk it with me. I withheld writing this reply until that <br /> meeting occurred. At that meeting Mr Richardson agreed that <br /> a) management of the trailhead had been less than professional, <br /> b) the trailhead signage at Spring Blvd was destroyed, what is left is <br /> damaged and subject to further damage from the way it now stands, <br /> c) present orientation and placement of the remaining trailhead signage <br /> creates a confusing and dangerous situation for the public. <br /> Mr Richardson mentioned agreement for the Parks Department to move <br /> the sign to a better location. However, he made no specific pledge to <br /> rebuild the trailhead to its originally funded and built specification as a <br /> multi -use recreation trail. Actually, everything he said at our meeting was <br /> undercut by the caveat that he was just a lowly technician with no <br /> authority as to how money really gets spent. <br /> This is a disappointing state of affairs. Hundreds of dollars and thousands <br /> of grunt volunteer labor built that trail in good faith. I, and many others, <br /> lived with poison oak infections for months, showering with 16 oz bottles <br /> of Technu for the better part of a year. There were even Monday Night <br /> gravel hauling parties illuminated by Coleman lanterns hung in the trees to <br /> hauling wheelbarrows of gravel uphill to harden the trail surface before <br /> the record rains that came that winter. <br /> That trailhead was sited specifically where the Parks Dept. told us to place <br /> the trail and trailhead which, incidentally, meant clearing a 20 x 20 ft <br />