HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/9/2021 Item 4a, Smith
Delgado, Adriana
From:carolyn smith <cjsmith_107@yahoo.com>
Sent:Tuesday, November
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Night Hiking/Biking - Agenda Item #4a
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Mayor Stewart and Council Members,
I urge you to vote no on allowing night hiking/biking on Cerro San Luis. The residents of this city
have repeatedly responded in city surveys strongly supporting protecting and preserving our natural
reserves--only allowing passive daytime recreation. As our elected representatives, please listen to
and support your constituents and not special interest groups who are only looking at this issue
through a narrow viewpoint of what's fun for their particular recreational activity. It's absolutely not
necessary and is more dangerous and harmful to humans and wildlife.
Some of the letters under Agenda Correspondence cite very thorough state, national, and
international studies that prove night-time recreation is very harmful to wildlife. It shouldn't be
something that needs to be proven at the city level. In fact, since there was not a sufficient baseline
study done by the city when this plan was first proposed, it's probably not even possible to determine
the true effects of allowing this type of night-time activity here locally.
One of the compliments I hear from people who visit and want to move here is how great it is that our
City values its environment, protecting it from human destruction. I hear the word finding a "balance"
in many issues that have faced this Council over the past several years. Our preserved open space
and viewshed surrounding the city is seen as an example of a city that values its natural habitat,
balancing the needs of human activity while preserving nature's needs. Providing a safe
environment for wildlife to exist and flourish in their space at night away from human activity is vital to
preserving their existence. Since humans can bike and hike on Cerro San Luis for 11 hours even on
the shortest day of the winter, that allows ample time for anyone to perform their desired recreational
activity of hiking or biking while preserving the dark hours for the wildlife to perform their
needed survival activities. The balance shouldn't be considered that there are other open space
natural reserves where night-time activity is protected. The balance should be that all of our natural
reserves are protected at night for wildlife survival while human activity has all the daytime hours to
perform their recreational activities. Humans can arrange their schedules to get their recreational
activities in without making the City accommodate their schedules--I used to do it when I worked full-
time.
If this council truly cares about our environment and its long history of preserving our city's natural
reserves, as your constituents have repeatedly insisted, you would reject this plan.
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Thank you for your consideration of this very important issue.
Carolyn Smith
San Luis Obispo City Resident
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