The Trail and Pathway Plan will be appearing in front of the Standing Policy Committee (SPC/CPS), most likely at the May 4, 2005 meeting. For procedural reasons we will not know this for sure until the Friday before the meeting, but if you want to show up please call or email Pete and he can add you to a 'call-out' list for the day of the meeting.

What does this plan show? Pretty much the same trail system proposed at the second open-house is intact with some minor modifications. CMBA strongly supports this design as it provides a plausible trail system that will allow all users to enjoy the hill while minimizing erosion on the escarpment. It is true that only about 60km of trails will remain open once you leave the Multi-Use Zone (MUZ = plateau at the top plus gravel pit), however this is a vast improvement over past policies which have (on paper) limited us to only three or five trails!

Other articles on this website will show you where the battle has become decidedly ugly and pitched against cyclists, so we encourage you to email or write your alderman, or better still, show up at the SPC/CPS meeting. Many majority groups are still lobbying to exempt themselves from the plan, for example, groups representing walkers and dogs (87% of the users) feel they should be allowed anywhere and want restrictions to apply to cyclists only.

To reiterate CMBA's position, Parks has agreed that all users cause some damage, in fact, per user, a cyclist causes the same amount of damage as a walker. Parks is also supporting a plan where controls apply to all park users, which CMBA vigorously supports. Any last-minute exemption for dog owners and walkers means the plan only applies to cyclists. Banning only a 13% minority cannot possibly save the escarpment from degradation-87% of the users will be able to use any trail whatsoever and defeat any rehabilitation effort (like the last effort.)

There is also a 'don't let them pave the park' lobby that suggests the park is being 'given' to cyclists and must, of course, be taken back. This alarmist lobby feels that paving a trail from the new multi-million dollar concrete overpass and the linking of two existing asphalt trails with a few hundred meters of gravel-topped asphalt is the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it.

CMBA notes that the same people behind these lobbies have been opposed to cyclists for at least twelve years and have used every political, civil and public venue to blame bikes for a problem they themselves are 87% of. Lets all cooperate fairly and save the park rather than blame the same old historic scapegoats.