Seems there is some controversy brewing in Fredericton…
quoted from Facebook…
Regarding Today’s CBC interview about “the mountain bike problem” in O’Dell…
TLDR:
-Supposedly the city previously requested O’Dell singletrack be taken off the RVC trailforks page (not sure when, but awhile ago)
-I agree no more trails should be cut without city approval but if hikers can use the trails so can cyclists (which the radio interview was not clear about)
-City has upcoming plans to assess what is currently in the park and figure out a use plan for them
-Councillor chase did not advise City Council of his interview this morning before it was done. Council may be reviewing this next week (possibly public)
Had a chat with Councillor Greg Ericson today regarding the notorious CBC interview from today (he’s a friend of mine from Ultimate Frisbee) and he mentioned that RVC was asked to remove the O’Dell singletrack trails from trailforks by City Park management awhile ago. Anyone know anything about that? It was just something he mentioned while we were chatting.
He also mentioned that there may be a Council Meeting next week to discuss some of this stuff and I asked him if it was a public meeting to let me know so I could let interested parties know.
When we were talking I was just mentioning how what frustrated me about the radio interview today (which the rest of Council had NO idea was happening) was the use of “mountain bike problem”. It was positioned as bikers shouldn’t be building trails (which I actually consider correct as much as I like riding them) but that also bikes should stick to designated trails… This is what I had the problem with because it implies that hikers shouldn’t.
If the existing singletrack trails are deemed to be usable by one group then it would be for all groups. Do you think that the “walkers” complaining about the “bikers” on the trails mean the doubletrack that we never bike on? Unlikely… Hikers use the singletrack trails just as much as we do.
So supposedly there’s an environmental assessment going on this summer and hopefully the outcome is that whatever existing trails are considered stable and not causing issues will stay, get marked, and be official for shared use - and whatever areas need to be fixed up will be closed off and marked appropriately.
Not trying to stir anything up here, just wanted to provide some of the information that Greg relayed to me today, and I made it clear that I was only an RVC member and by no means was speaking on behalf of RVC.