Recap: Parks and Rec Commission Meeting
June 13, 2017
We are happy to report that the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Rec Commission voted to adopt city park staff recommendations to include provisions in the parks master plan to explore opportunities to add more mountain biking facilities to city parks including both multi-use and mountain bike specific trails.
What does this mean? Well now City Council will have to address the issue at an upcoming meeting and will make the final call whether these recommendations will go into the final approved plan. So while the vote at yesterday’s meeting represented a great step towards bringing more legal trails to the area, we are by no means out of the woods yet.
The close 4-3 vote is indicative of the controversial nature of the issue. MBOSC will be continuing its engagement with City Council members advocating in support of staff recommendation. We need your help to make this happen! Please stay tuned for info on timing of the next meeting. If you have not written a letter to city council yet, please do so. More info here.
We want to express our gratitude and thanks to those who joined us yesterday.
Stirling Eriksson, owner of Cycle Works Santa Cruz, closed his shop for the day and brought his crew to support us.
Several Girls Rock leaders and board members were in the crowd.
Don Palermini and Alli McLain spoke on behalf of Santa Cruz Bicycles and Little Bellas. Mark Jordan of FOX joined as well. Edward Reyes of Silicon Valley Mountain Bikers came out to speak about his positive experiences with the mountain biking community in Santa Cruz. Dave Smith of Shuttlesmith Adventures pointed out that mountain bike tourists are the best kind of tourists, stating “They eat twice as much as anyone else, the stay in our hotels, and they don’t create beach traffic- they’re out on the trails all day.” Tony Zepeda of Cyclepath Outfitters spoke about the positive impact cycling has had on his life, proclaiming “If it weren’t for cycling I wouldn’t be out there volunteering on the trails.” Johnny Moore of Moore and Sons Motorcycles joined in support as well.
Thank you so much everyone- your testimonies were essential in passing the plan.
Please keep your ears peeled and join us at the next meeting!
Read full article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel here.
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