Those homes also have a very good chance of being occupied by a lot of self-righteous people with friends in high places.

Maybe we could get permission to reopen that parking area at the top (where the makeshift BMX track is), on the road to Greenshores? That would move some of the parking lot noise away from the homes. I have actually always hated where the main parking lot is located anyway - you practically have to drive a complete circle around the whole property to get to it.

I can tell you for a fact that if the motorcycle trails get closed to motorcycles, they will be closed for good to all users.
The problem here is that the goobers who are cutting limbs and modifying the trails are clueless and more than likely do not know or even care about the rules, much less read this forum. Sad but true.

Help spread the word....talk with other riders when you see them out there. Make sure they know the rules and have the TPWD sticker on their bike. We need to do all we can or risk loosing one of the coolest public urban trail riding spots in the country!

On Saturday, the two park employees who come around to clean up the parking area stopped their truck facing the houses and stayed parked there for about 15 minutes. From where I was, I hadn't seen the houses yet or I would have talked to them about it. I'm sure that's what they were talking about.

I'm hoping that a high, stone wall is planned between the neighborhood and the parking lot. If the subdivision developers won't do it, then the parks department should build it on the park property with the help of the park users.

At the trials event in January we were allowed to have camping at the site of the event. Right in the parking lot. I honestly don't see that happening again next year with the houses that close.

This is not a good thing. Soon, when you look down the parking lot, there will be big, two-story houses. They'll sell the first one to someone on a nice, quiet weekday afternoon when nobody is riding the trails. And the first weekend after they move in, some overpaid jerk will be in the back yard cooking bbq on a pit the size of my kitchen, and the complaints will start.

Whatever we can do, we need to do it soon. Build a wall for the sound? Make sure buyers know what's next door before they buy? Any ideas?

Greg

Hopefully they will notice the big sign right next to their driveway that says MOTORCYCLE PARK. Then again, there are people that buy houses near an airport, and then complain about noise. Funny thing is the airport is moved outside of town in a few years.

Anyone seen the big houses popping up around Devil's Cove in the last couple years? Same thing will be happening there, too.

I moved here from Colorado and found Emma Long - what a great place. It is one of the toughest trail systems out there and should be marked and maintained as such. I found out it is one of the only city parks in the country that allows motorcycles. We absolutely need to fight for this continued access.

The reason I moved was to run operations for Woods Fun Center on I-35 and Braker Lane. I can rally a large group to help with any clean ups or fund raisers to keep the park open. Please let me know how I can help.

Thanks,

David Pearson
GM - Woods Fun Center
512-459-3311

Same here...we will talk about these issues at tomorrow nights AMSA meeting. The way I understand it is that the US Fish and Wildlife Dept gives funds to the City of Austin to maintain the motorcycle trails at CP. This is a closely watched project that flies in the face of most environmental projects. CP is a well known habitat for the Golden Cheeked Warblers and Black Capped Vireos (local endangered birds) and it has been studied and proven that endangered birds and motorized recreation can co-exist on the same land. It is in the best interest of the City to see that this place is well taken care of so they can keep the fed $$ coming. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

I know some of the guys who built this trail loop and I have always been told that the original deal was that if it is not made accessable for motorcycle riders, the land reverts back to the original land owner, Ms. Emma Long, who dontated all that land to the City in the first place. Evidently Ms. Long is a long time offroad motorcycle enthusiast who is still alive and well today, here in Austin. One of our clubs members knows her personally. It sure would be cool if we could get her to one of our meetings to talk about the park land.

Still, we need all user groups to work together to make sure newbies know and follow the simple rules about riding at CP. Education is the first place to start. Getting volunteer help to maintain the trails is the easy part! The park manager will notify me when we get closer to a couple of projects he needs help with and I will post it here. Stay tuned...

Wow. Just got finished reading the BikeMojo topic. This is a really heated issue. Is there a representative from the local MTB community who could participate in an AMSA meeting or get together with a representative of the local offroad MC community for an "alignment" session? It will be one thing to get the MC and MTB groups to work together. I think the biggest threat is from the adjacent development.

The most interesting take away from me is that the groups in conflict about the care and feeding of CP are those that have the most to lose and the most passion for keeping things accessible. The developers and new homeowners will want to break the status quo.

Action Item 1 would be to join all of the groups together who want to maintain access to CP. Effort spent pointing fingers at one another is effort not spent on protecting access. Follow that with short term plans for policing the trail integrity (signage, handouts, education, repair). Then get some long term commitment from park management to put infrastructure in place to protect usage of the park (soundwalls, alternative parking, trail planning, grandfather clauses...).

I don't even ride CP and I want to see it preserved on premise alone.

Chris

I know for sure we have AMSA members that are mountian bikers as well but I do not know any of the MTB only guys. I am willing to work with them for the common goal of preserving the City Park Motorcycle Trails for future generations. Our club meeting is tonight (3/20/07) at Fuddruckers on South Lamar...we officially start the meeting at 7:30pm but most folks are showing up around 7:00. We have a lot of things on the agenda tonight and City Park will be a topic so we can get everybody up to speed on what is happening out there. Any of the MTB community riders that want to attend this meeting (or future meetings) to work together with us would definately be welcome. I know there are a whole lot of riders of all types (MC, MTB, Trials, etc.) that are passionate about the park and we need to do all we can to work together, or risk loosing a very special riding area.

I hope I didn't overstep my bounds, but I just posted the following to the BikeMojo board and sent a heads up to the admin to see if they would bump visibility:

Hi all,

This is my first post, and I make it in an effort to combine the common interests of the MTB and motorcycle community to fight to maintain access to City Park. Although we may never see exactly eye-to-eye, we share a common desire to retain currently accessible trails and perhaps increase access over time. In this case, the threat to close City Park is a negative for both groups.

The AMSA's (Austin MotoSports Association) monthly meeting is tonight at Fuddruckers on South Lamar. I would encourage someone, anyone from the MTB community to attend as a conduit to the additional resources that both groups can leverage against those who would close the trails, namely the adjacent developers and homeowners as well as park personnel who might make rash decisions in light of the recent trail modifications.

If you need more detail about the meeting time or place, visit: http://www.amsaclub.org.

If you attend, sit down and chat with David Denmon, the current AMSA Vice President. Super great guy who shares your concerns about trail maintenance, abuse, and philosophy.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I really appreciate it. I had a great conversation with one of the original designers/trail cutters of the City Park MC trails, Cliff Turner. Cliff is a wealth of historical information about the park, the rules, and the original gang of Capitol Cats Motorcycle Club (predecessor to the AMSA). I took over for Cliff when I got really involved with the club and I promised Cliff years ago that we would work closely with the City in keeping this place open to the public. Cliff will try to make the meeting tonight if he can and will for sure be at our next one. Cliff can really shed light on the subject and is a super neat guy to talk to.

I also just spoke with Albert, the park manager to invite him to our meetings. He is a super busy guy but will try hard to make them. Albert want me to look at the calendar to come up with a date to get a group out to do some repairs on the trail. I assured him that I would and we are ready and willing to help in any way we can. Albert assured me that these current issues can be delt with and for us not to worry.

Cliff tells me that we are quickly approaching the 40 year anniversary of the CP motorcycle trails and that we will have to organise a celebration ride out there as we get closer. He also reminded me that we get to re-open a section of trail that has been closed for nearly 10 years! The signs read that the section in question will re-open in 2009. That's great news and will add mileage to the current loop.

After talking with Albert and Cliff, I feel alot better about the current situation. More to come. Stay tuned!