HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/6/2021 Item 4b, Otto
Delgado, Adriana
From:Garrett Otto <garrettotto@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday,
To:Advisory Bodies
Cc:Avakian, Greg
Subject:Park and Rec - Bike Track Location
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
I urge the commission to locate the bicycle pump track at Sinsheimer along the railroad safety trail or at Laguna Lake
park. These are the two most appropriate locations for a bike pump track. They are located near schools and along
typical bike routes that kids both young and old can navigate. It is important to make sure that this amenity can be
safely and conveniently accessed by our younger community members by bike. Allowing kids to access the park by bike
promotes a healthy active lifestyle, reduces car dependence, fosters independence, and frees parents up from the
constant caravanning of children between activities.
I have heard that the City is considering another location along the Bob Jones Trail behind the wastewater treatment
plant. I am opposed to this location for a plethora of reasons. South Higuera is not a safe or comfortable corridor to have
kids (or adults for that matter) biking along. As a confident bike riders, I am rarely willing to bike along S. Higuera. Even if
a road diet and protected bike lanes go in in the near future, intersections like Madonna, South, Prado, and Tank Farm
are years if not decades away from being improved.
As a parent I would also have a serious issue with sending my kid to an area that has homeless encampments and is out
of view of much of the public. The city may think that by "activating" the space with $1.45M of lights along the trail and
sending a kids to this area will somehow deter homeless from setting up their camps, but that is unlikely. I think this is in
pretty poor taste to use our kids to try and deter encampments and most parents will not feel comfortable sending their
kids to this area.
The recently adopted Parks and Rec blueprint had community wide outreach efforts to develop. In that process the
majority of participating community members expressed desire to place bike pump tracks at Sinsheimer and Laguna
Lake for good reason. The City and Commission should not immediately disregard that city wide process in which we
identified locations for these amenities.
I also highly suggest that the bike parks be initially built out of dirt and wood. The City should partner with community
members to help design and build the facilities quickly and cheaply. In the future we can make these permanent with
concrete (if desired), but lets not waste the time and money trying to do that initially.
Thank you,
Garrett Otto
Lincoln Street
1
San Luis Obispo
2