Watchung News 12/9/2016

[Shorepoints]

Union County Freeholder Meeting
Thursday March 23 7 PM · 10 Elizabethtown Plz, Elizabeth, NJ 07202-3451

I don't know if the Master Plan with the new MTB trails will be discussed at this meeting, but I am going to go to share my thoughts with the Freeholders during the public comments section of the meeting.

@Shorepoints Should we be attending this meeting?

Yes I plan to attend and encourage anyone who can attend to do so. Near 100% certainty "the opposition" will be there so we need to be present to present the facts. There is nothing regarding the Master Plan on the Agenda so far, so we will likely have the opportunity to speak at the end at the public-comment portion (max 5 min per person). If you plan to go, shoot me an email: jamiemeiselman@gmail.com as we are trying to organize a more structured presentation.

 

[billy64]

Just so people are aware- as of like 10 min ago I was coming home during lunch to pick something up and there was a gentleman parked on the stable side of the road in the reservation walking through the woods (on the opposite side of the road) pulling up all of the pink flags that have been placed throughout to mark possible trails for the MTB community. Not sure if this is going on elsewhere throughout the park, but this is not acceptable!!!

 

[Shorepoints]

Just so people are aware- as of like 10 min ago I was coming home during lunch to pick something up and there was a gentleman parked on the stable side of the road in the reservation walking through the woods (on the opposite side of the road) pulling up all of the pink flags that have been placed throughout to mark possible trails for the MTB community. Not sure if this is going on elsewhere throughout the park, but this is not acceptable!!!

Worst case I have all the GPX files from the currently flagged route.

 

[w_b]

maybe Mike Vandeman is in town?

 

[Sven Migot]

Take pictures/video.

 

[billy64]

Ok, thanks @Shorepoints thats great to know. And on my way back to school it looked like he had cleared all of the easily accessible flags on that side of the road. The ones deeper back I could still see. Ya I thought of at @SvenMigot but after I was already on my way down toward 22. It was a darker, beat up Ford Explorer, with old college stickers on the back window. I wasn't able to see if anyone cleared out the flags on the stable side though.

I'm just concerned that once we get in and are allowed to enjoy the reservation if this type of vigilantly activity will continue...

 

[Frank]

Pulling flags and ribbons is something that all trail builders have experienced at one time or another. Some folk are just resistant to change and will try to mess with us as much as possible, so just do your best to keep the faith.

 

[GHM73]

It's funny how they seem to be trying to be overly nice on their "Save Watchung" FB page and seem to be denying and acting like none of the opposition has been anything but nice, courteous and basically the opposite of how they have been acting. They actually commented in response to one of my posts saying that no one has ever said that the MTB community was being selfish. HA!

 

[billy64]

Pulling flags and ribbons is something that all trail builders have experienced at one time or another. Some folk are just resistant to change and will try to mess with us as much as possible, so just do your best to keep the faith.

Thanks for the reassuring words Frank.

 

[thegock]

LIVE BLOG

Spoke first regarding JORBA and Trail Maintenance.

 

[TheLonerider]

It's funny how they seem to be trying to be overly nice on their "Save Watchung" FB page and seem to be denying and acting like none of the opposition has been anything but nice, courteous and basically the opposite of how they have been acting. They actually commented in response to one of my posts saying that no one has ever said that the MTB community was being selfish. HA!

Kind of like how all the local news coverage of the March 7 trailside meeting only showed two clips out of the whole thing... and it was the only too people who were halfway polite. If someone watched that news coverage they would get as very different idea of what the anti-bike folks were like than they actually were. And of course there were no clips of the mtb'ers who finally got to speak at the end.

BTW, still no full video online; there may never be.

As to pulling up the flags, whoever it is should grow the bleep up. They wanna spend time on the trail spend it helping, maybe?

Lonerider

 

[thegock]

LIVE BLOG

Spoke first regarding JORBA and trail maintenance.

Sorry about the redundancy. Site was glitchy last night.

The Freeholders meeting went very well. The MTB community had at least 15 supporters speak, roughly equal to the number in the opposition. Our comments in support of trail access were more "fact based" as opposed to fear mongering. For example, opponent Billy Toth read accounts of horrific MTB accidents in various locales to the Freeholders and inferred that this is what would happen in the Watchung Reservation should trail access be granted by the FH.

I noted that several of the opposition claimed to be MTB or own MTB. Sometime appearances can be deceiving.


It is worth noting that two of the Freeholders who spoke in their comments to the audience at the end of the meeting were supportive of access. These were different Freeholders than FH Estrada who spoke on March 9. My guess is that reason and facts will prevail.

 

[qclabrat]

BTW, still no full video online; there may never be.

As to pulling up the flags, whoever it is should grow the bleep up. They wanna spend time on the trail spend it helping, maybe?

Lonerider

what was that 2.5 hr recording I was watching last week?
was it taken down?

 

[qclabrat]

Sorry about the redundancy. Site was glitchy last night.

The Freeholders meeting went very well. The MTB community had at least 15 supporters speak, roughly equal to the number in the opposition. Our comments in support of trail access were more "fact based" as opposed to fear mongering. For example, opponent Billy Toth read accounts of horrific MTB accidents in various locales to the Freeholders and inferred that this is what would happen in the Watchung Reservation should trail access be granted by the FH.

I noted that several of the opposition claimed to be MTB or own MTB. Sometime appearances can be deceiving.


It is worth noting that two of the Freeholders who spoke in their comments to the audience at the end of the meeting were supportive of access. These were different Freeholders than FH Estrada who spoke on March 9. My guess is that reason and facts will prevail.

Thanks Tom for the update and those who showed up at the meeting in support of the mtb trails at Watchung
Was there mention of a final decision date? Spring is here and those who have come out to TMs know its the best time to build trails right after the winter thaw.

I watched the March 9th meeting recording a few times in segments and was surprised to hear from the FHs that the assessments are still actively underway and is no where close to a done deal. Perhaps the FHs are reluctant to address this in public forum, but aren't we "close" to freeing Watchung?

 

[Shorepoints]

Thanks Tom for the update and those who showed up at the meeting in support of the mtb trails at Watchung
Was there mention of a final decision date? Spring is here and those who have come out to TMs know its the best time to build trails right after the winter thaw.

I watched the March 9th meeting recording a few times in segments and was surprised to hear from the FHs that the assessments are still actively underway and is no where close to a done deal. Perhaps the FHs are reluctant to address this in public forum, but aren't we "close" to freeing Watchung?

There was a sentiment among the freeholders to try to resolve this as quickly as possible, which is a good sign. They don't like having to go 2-hours extra every freeholder meeting listening to arguments from both sides. Don't want to get bogged down in unnecessary studies and impact reports. All of that has already been sufficiently covered. This is going to come down to the recommendations of CME (the engineering consultants).

 

[stilluf]

My take on last night's FH meeting was that we are still moving forward. The opposition keeps recycling through the same old discredited arguments. I believe the FH are tired of hearing them demonize us as a group when we have always been reasonable and responsible and fact based. I'm optimistic that we are nearing the finish line on final (final) approval to start digging after the CME report comes in.

 

[qclabrat]

thanks both, I was at the earlier Trailside meeting and did not hear anything from CME which would lead me to believe that the final report would be negative

 

[Xler8]

Long night last night. Especially on a school night...

Overall comments from the FH's were that they will be keeping an open mind. FH Hudak made comments to the effect that with 2200 acres of land, there should be a way we can all be able to enjoy the outdoors. There were a couple other comments as well: One about the county doing more to reach out to the public and make sure they are informed and the other was about making sure other stakeholders are solicited for their input (equestrians).

No timeframe was mentioned on any of the remaining tasks that need to get completed, however there was a comment that this should not drag out too long. Hard to say what too long is... a month, a year... seems like we will know once they are ready to make a final vote.

One thing is for sure, more people need to attend and speak. Even if it's just to say that you are in support of the plan. Doesn't need to be anything fancy. One gentleman last night got up and simply said something like: I support the plan and just want to ride my bike... If we stand up for what we feel is right then change for the better will happen. And we will all benefit from it.

 

[thegock]

Long night last night. Especially on a school night...

One thing is for sure, more people need to attend and speak. Even if it's just to say that you are in support of the plan. Doesn't need to be anything fancy. One gentleman last night got up and simply said something like: I support the plan and just want to ride my bike... If we stand up for what we feel is right then change for the better will happen. And we will all benefit from it.

Exactly.

@Shorepoints or @stilluf know when we should attend a meeting and can, hopefully, let us know here.

We need more and different people at the Freeholder meetings. Four new faces last night were Rob, Sheryl, Stacey and Lauren, all of whom spoke quite eloquently regarding access. Union County residents, especially, should circle the date on their calendar when there is a Freeholders meeting. They are all held in the same place on the 6th floor of 10 Elizabethtown Plaza, Elizabeth, NJ at 7pm on a Thursday night. Here's the schedule:

http://ucnj.org/departments/clerk-of-the-board/schedule-of-meetings/

The next two regular meetings are April 13 and April 27. Circle the dates on your calendars if you want access to the Watchung Reservation for those of us who don't own horses.

 

[KenS]

It takes a village. I couldn't be happier with the work of JORBA's newest chapter in Union County and the dedication of the local riding community.