Watchung Reservation MTB Access - This Is It!!

TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
M3Tim said:
Instead of waiting for them to "grant" access, is it possible to sue "for" access? I would think that a case could be made for rights being denied etc.? Seems like we could get JORBA and maybe IMBA involved from a legal standpoint? Or maybe this has been tried already.

Spoken as a dumb engineer, not a lawyer. :D
Click to expand...

There are several tacts you can take:

1-Ban is "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable" - grounds for suit
2-Ordinance they says bans mt biking (an old ordinace they reappropriated in 95 without changing) contains a specific list of things and then the list stops. It includes only "roads, sidewalks, paths," and not blocking cars. No mention or mt biking by name or bikes on trails. since the point of such a list is to limit scope of legislation it is exclusive and therefore would not include things not listed. Some people might argue paths mean trails but they are on county maps as trails and anyway the ordinance predates the 95 ban by over ten years (imposed in 83 and never enforced against mt biking or altered after 95 to include it.) If ticketed, point to a map and say "show me the road/sidewalk/path i was on?"
3- if attempt is made to say "ordinance just allows gov't to ban biking wherever despite what it actually says" case could be made that it is overly broad.

Not a lawyer and don't play one on tv but all of these are legal arguments I got when I ran the idea by a lawyer (who is now a judge) at the beginning of the process several years ago.

Sadly instead I elected to "work with" the gov't.

Lonerider
 
GSTim

GSTim

Formerly M3Tim
Since the opposition's points are so weak, it seems like this is the preferred way to go, no? Working with the Gov't obviously isn't working (3 years of promises broken) so what is there to lose by taking the fight to them?
 
TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
Hey, since we aren't getting trail access in Watchung, can we at least get back all the other little trails they closed this past year or so when they put new "no bike" signs up at every freaking county park?
 
TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
ps - yes, I am aware they read this and what I said above is unkind. That is the point! They should expect that lying to someone for over 3 years will lead said person to have a very negative opinion of them and their trustworthiness. Actions have consequences, dudes. If anyone takes umbrage to me pointing out that the county's conduct is lower than a snake in a wagon rut, their problem should be with the fact of the county's conduct not me for simply acknowledging its existence.

Actually, what I just wrote above is probably unkind to snakes....
 
TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
"...to pretend that my victories mattered, only to realize no one was keeping score...that liars do not fear the truth if there are enough liars. That the devil is just one man with a plan but true evil is a collaboration of men, which is what we have here today"

True words from "the x files" that apply here, I think... never thought they'd apply to a cycling issue myself.
 
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