Watchung News 12/9/2016

Shorepoints said:
Freeh

Freeholder meeting was very productive. Definitely left feeling much more optimistic than Tuesday night. There were 10-15 MTB opposers there and about 5-10 pro MTB folks including Tom Dunn from Hilltop. The sentiment from the opposition crowd shifted noticeably away from Anti-MTB toward "Watchung Res is in terrible shape and needs much better care". Prior to the meeting, advocate Bob Miller arranged a face-face meeting with myself and the vocal anti-bike Trail Runner who spoke early on Tuesday (and again last night). She is much more sympathetic to our cause now and really just wants to see better stewardship of the Res as a whole. We also spoke with some of the concerned homeowners from Summit/Mountainside who showed up and are dialed in to their concerns and getting them involved in the process. We also spoke to Charles Weltner, the first speaker Tuesday night who was very passionate anti-bike Tuesday and he actually was quite friendly and reasonable last night. He's interested in trying MTB riding and Tom Dunn has offered him a free demo. The freeholders remain focused on providing a solution to try to accommodate as many stakeholders as possible, including MTB riders.
Click to expand...

Awesome job @Shorepoints ! Think you could broker a deal in the middle east yet?
 
@Shorepoints excellent work, thanks for all that you're doing here. It's amazing what is accomplished when someone reaches across the aisle, listens, and presents some logical points of view. It's so refreshing to see someone sidestep the "us vs them" attitude and make some headway. Free demo from Hilltop is icing on the cake! I would love to meet that dude on the trail in a year.
 
We have a great leader forging ahead and making amazing progress. As cyclists, nature lovers, taxpayers, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and just wholesome people let's make sure to support and get behind what is ultimately the right thing to do in the reservation. No battle or war has ever been won in history with just one person. It takes the collective strength of many fighting for the same cause.

Let's make sure we as a community do what we can to see this thru.
 
Shorepoints said:
Freeh

Freeholder meeting was very productive. Definitely left feeling much more optimistic than Tuesday night. There were 10-15 MTB opposers there and about 5-10 pro MTB folks including Tom Dunn from Hilltop. The sentiment from the opposition crowd shifted noticeably away from Anti-MTB toward "Watchung Res is in terrible shape and needs much better care". Prior to the meeting, advocate Bob Miller arranged a face-face meeting with myself and the vocal anti-bike Trail Runner who spoke early on Tuesday (and again last night). She is much more sympathetic to our cause now and really just wants to see better stewardship of the Res as a whole. We also spoke with some of the concerned homeowners from Summit/Mountainside who showed up and are dialed in to their concerns and getting them involved in the process. We also spoke to Charles Weltner, the first speaker Tuesday night who was very passionate anti-bike Tuesday and he actually was quite friendly and reasonable last night. He's interested in trying MTB riding and Tom Dunn has offered him a free demo. The freeholders remain focused on providing a solution to try to accommodate as many stakeholders as possible, including MTB riders.
Click to expand...

Kudos to whoever came up with the idea to have "offline" discussions. So many times, people react differently 1 on 1 than in a group (Mob :) )
 
  • Like
Reactions: rlb
rlb said:
@Shorepoints Free demo from Hilltop is icing on the cake! I would love to meet that dude on the trail in a year.
Click to expand...

If he sees how much fun it is (and how safe it can be) he probably won't be against it anymore.

Amazing work thanks to all who went tot hat freeholder meeting. I went to many of the earlier freeholder meets but couldn't do this one... and frankly after the atmosphere on March 7th was not hopeful. Glad to see that perception proven wrong. Great work all!

Lonerider
 
BTW does anyone have or know a link to the FULL video of the COMPLETE March 7 meeting? Internet searches turn up nothing and the local online news articles only show a few clips of the most "presentable" mt. bike opponents (2 out of the bunch).

curious to see with my own eyes what happened after I left and also show others I know what was said when I was there -- and not just the edited versions.

Lonerider
 
TheLonerider said:
BTW does anyone have or know a link to the FULL video of the COMPLETE March 7 meeting? Internet searches turn up nothing and the local online news articles only show a few clips of the most "presentable" mt. bike opponents (2 out of the bunch).

curious to see with my own eyes what happened after I left and also show others I know what was said when I was there -- and not just the edited versions.

Lonerider
Click to expand...

http://ucnj.org/departments/clerk-of-the-board/agendas-minutes-and-videos/

It's not posted yet but that's where it should be when it's ready for the public I would assume.
 
kdebello said:
I posted a link to the Bridging the knowledge gap response on the Berkeley Heights FB page. ...
Click to expand...

I live there. (but don't do fb) some nice people some uptight so -and-so's. Only a handful of bicyclists, it seems, everyone's too attached to their big shiny suvs to bike. We did have a casual rider on the town council but they replaced him with a muppet.
 
trivan said:
I submitted that I'm a Summit resident of 17 years and 100% in support of this. Thanks for all those representing us!!
Click to expand...
Thanks Trivan! EVERYONE please do your part and educate your friends and neighbors about the benevolance/benefits of legal sustainable bike trails at Watchung. Lots of mis-information out there. We must educate.
 
I posted this on the NextDoor site, which one was trying to get support against:
There was a Freeholders meeting on Thursday: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/westfield/...​

Bridging the KnowledgeGap:
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/westfield/...

Being a UC resident, I am 100% in support of this. The reservation should be available to all to enjoy the nature as they please, regardless by foot, horse or 2 wheels. I do hope people realize there will always be a handful of outliers who choose to break all the rules and do not represent many of the biking community. Shared trails have been in other parks for many years w/o incident around the country.​

The response was:
Watchung Reservation. Learn the meaning of the word reservation. Trees, birds, and wildlife are protected from disruption. Tree roots and then their trees will die from the trails. Mountain bikers compete, race, and should not presume the right to disrupt reservation lands. Respect nature and preserved reservation lands.
​
I decided to take the high road and not response thou I do think it's funny that people have to resort to attacking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom