South Mountain Reservation

gtluke said:
You need to start where nobody would notice, get a foot in like Normandy, or say Hilltop Reservation where nobody will go, and nobody will complain, and nobody is there to put up a fight.
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I was thinking the same thing the other day. Hilltop could be used as a test case for the rest of the county parks.
 
It's a fantastic start, it needs TONS of work. It's like another Jungle Habitat site. What better way to get help than to let bikers use the land?
I'd be there twice a week with a shovel.
 
gtluke said:
I've tried to voice my opinion to Jorba but they aren't interested in my opinion.
Trying to get biking in South Mountain is like a a D-Day invasion right into Berlin.
You need to start where nobody would notice, get a foot in like Normandy, or say Hilltop Reservation where nobody will go, and nobody will complain, and nobody is there to put up a fight.
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Luke, now my feelings are hurt. 😉 Seriously, did you contact me and I ignored you?

Look the problem is not that JORBA is not listening, the issue is that the County is not listening to the South Mountain Conservancy. When we're involved in touchy situations like this we can't be totally public with everything we do. But suffice to say that we've been lied to (asked to work through the South Mountain Conservancy-we did, get them to endorse the plan-we did) and then gotten totally stonewalled by the county.

Getting riding legalized at Hilltop will be no easier for the county to stomach than South Mountain.

That said, I do have contacts there and I have already talked to some people on that conservancy and they're not ready to endorse mountain biking there, yet. I can only speculate on what their worry is... so I won't voice it, but they're not ready for that. Eagle Rock, same deal. I asked that the ER conservancy to endorse the mountain biking pilot in South Mountain and they're not interested either in getting involved either (many of them are mountain bikers too).

The bottom line is that everyone has their own agendas here. Each group of locals wants their own personal private playground and they're afraid to stick their heads up and take a stand. Very few people want to unify for legal riding because they're afraid of the crackdown on riding that might occur.

That said, I welcome your involvement. Can I suggest something? Join the Hilltop Conservancy and get involved there. Be persistent and get involved and start pressuring from within for multi-use trails. If you are able to do that and sway some people, I will help you as much as I helped the Somocon.org folks on all the key issues. I'll come down, do a presentation, etc. I have some contacts there that I can provide once you get established there. Some of them attended the IMBA TCC a few years ago so they are not unfamiliar with the issues.

Edit: Luke, I dropped a line to the Hilltop Conservancy. Geordie likes your idea and welcomes your involvement at Hilltop Res. If you want to get involved, I suggest you contact him at his email listed here: http://www.hilltopconservancy.org/

p.s. He wants to run a kids race there in the spring so that might be something you can help plan and execute.
 
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Mergs, have you guys heard anything back from Joe D? Has he been giving you the run around or just not responding?

I mailed him a letter about 6 months ago urging him to adopt the recommendations of SoMo Con and open a discussion about bringing biking back to the reservation but never got a response from him or his office.
 
Judge Smails said:
Mergs, have you guys heard anything back from Joe D? Has he been giving you the run around or just not responding?

I mailed him a letter about 6 months ago urging him to adopt the recommendations of SoMo Con and open a discussion about bringing biking back to the reservation but never got a response from him or his office.
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Sorry, Mergs is tied up this evening but I can answer this question for you.... He has not responded to us either. Initially it was "soon" and now it is just crickets, in the mean time the SoMo team will keep plugging away so no one can say that we didn't hold up our end. Who knows, maybe the voting public will someday send him the message that they want someone who supports their interests.
 
Judge Smails said:
Mergs, have you guys heard anything back from Joe D? Has he been giving you the run around or just not responding?

I mailed him a letter about 6 months ago urging him to adopt the recommendations of SoMo Con and open a discussion about bringing biking back to the reservation but never got a response from him or his office.
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thanks for the note. yeah... i was actually driving out to monroe county with bob w for an open space meeting to support out vmb bros when frank asked me for a status update on this.

basically, joe d probably never expected us to follow through on all this. he expected mtb'ers to go teets up and quit. we haven't.

meantime, he doesn't know how to handle this politically. i believe he thinks the voters will penalize him on election day so he's asked our somo folks to "be patient". we're trying to be patient and give him some time to sort this all out... we have some ideas we're throwing against the walls and i hope we can announce some cool things for the spring soon.

meantime, continue writing and calling his office and ask them to accept the south mountain conservancy's sustainable trails multi-use pilot in 2010. if he thinks the anti-mtb crowd is larger than the pro-mtb crowd, you can't blame a politician for acting this way. everyone that resides in essex county needs to politely but firmly make their voices be heard. we can't do this without you folks.
 
make sure you state your county residence so they know you are from Essex.

Be one of those that can say they helped make it happen.
 
done

Subject: Mountain Biking Pilot in South Mountain Reservation‏

Mr. DiVincenzo,

Over the past several years I've volunteered my time to help build sustainable trials at South Mountain Reservation. I've read the mountain bike proposal that was submitted to the county and I'm curious as to when a decision will be made.
 
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$$$$$$$ over quality of life

MST.ESQ said:
Now it all makes sense. we can't bike on the property because they want to start paving it over for more parking lots, restaurants and a 21 hole putt-putt course! Nice job Joe D you (censored)!

http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2010/03/millburn_objections_may_be_too_1.html
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That is essex county in a nutshell.I guess they figure mountain bikers equals no money coming in.But blacktop for parking and restaurants and golfers brings in boatloads of cash.Nothing new here in the jungle!Just keep picking off large pieces of this once jewel of a park until a tree is left. I'm not sure how this was allowed to happen.I'm sure it was somehow voted on with little public notice before hand.
 
That's just overflow parking right now, no woods. I'm seeing if I can get the drawings, I have access to some but not much outside the industrial world. Have a guy looking now for it.
 
So you guys know the corner they are planning on taking. It's where they normally have the county fair and overflow parking for events. There are no trails in that portion. I'm not defending them, I'll help protest if we have the chance but it is unusable land. I think it used to be called the archery field but I haven't seen anyone shooting there in a long long time.
I don't know why they want lake viewing, that lake is nasty.

What actually DID encroach on the trails is the expansion of the zoo a few years ago. Not that they were any good trails right there, just rocky fire roads.

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