Notes from the June General Membership Meeting

2010-06-30 General Meeting

Quick
apology up front, I was trying to take notes on my phone, so keeping up
was very difficult.

Announcements:

St
Hellen's Fest is coming up.

Tour de Tillamook coming up on July 30th. 3rd year
running, great event

Oakridge trip coming up

Sandy trails still closed. Reworking drainage. Hide and seek open on Friday. Bridge is going in do e
the next couple weeks.
Late July open for the top. Freeride
formalized hopefully by the the end of the summer hope to have a dense
trail system.
4-7 miles in mallala trails going in

Scappose
- Tom and Tom met with land managers. Looking for clarification on
opening. All open now, north and south side. Don't park in front of the
gates. Working with LM to coordinate

Black Rock Shuttle Day - July 25th. Make sure you take
advantage. Money towards the ST240

Hats off to Julie Kramer for
putting her team on the podium for 6 hour mt hood race.

Skills
Course - If you are interested in helping out with Sunday parkways,
talk to Will Heiberg - will@nw-trail.org

Short track -
talk to Joel about helping doing the kids classes before -
joel@nw-trail.org

Guests:
Lynn Barlow from Portland
Parks and Recreation
Katy Weil from Oregon Metro
Emily Roth
from Portland Parks and Recreation

Guest
speaker, Emily Roth -
At this point we are now in the
planning stages. What is next?
Forest Park - long planning process.
Committee has made recommendations. 12 things have been proposed.
Connenctors and possible new trails to create loops.
Next step - 1st
weekend of august will see where the recommendations lead. Natural
resource plan will be followed. Where do we get the money? PPR will be
coming back to NWTA for help.

Powell butte. New trails open to
cycling. Some large loops will remain open to cycling. Some ped only.
Three trails not for cyclists (need to get list.). This is a change from
what came from the PAC.  Internal decision from Parks staff. Informal
PAC to be scheduled shortly.  All trails will be able to get rebuilt
more sustainable and a better experiment. Have money and built in 2011

Skill parks in east Portland, open in under-programmed parks. Ride to
ride. 2 people currently working on this. Getting in contact with NWTA.
Who builds and funds this? Ribbon cutting by end of the year

Gateway Green. Have cost estimate for year one and annual maintenance
(about 200k a year). Need lead agency and project budget needs to be
refined.

Mounting biking has a bad rap in parks. What can NWTA
make in terms of agreements for long term stewardship. The trail issues
in Washington park and FP are not helping. What will NWTA due to deal
with cyclists riding illegally?

FEEDBACK FROM AUDIENCE -

MEMBER
How do we reach out to rouge cyclists?  If there are no options for
cyclists who have resorted to riding illegally, they are not going to
listen to us to just not ride, this is not realistic. NWTA can't be held
accountable for all cyclists.

MEMBER As for riding
options, Skate parks are an Example. This has gotten backing and there
are skate parks throughout Portland. This started with an illegal skate
park under the burnside bridge. Wether this is an appropriate model or
not, people are looking to this to effect change. Cyclists want to Ride
to ride. City needs to embrace this, too many pros, it's healthy, gets
people outside, creates commerce, appreciation forthe outdoors.....

MEMBER
NWTA is NOT the target audience for addressing people riding illegally.
NWTA has stepped up and are committed to being part of the solution.
Sandy is a shining example. FP has problems.

MEMBER NWTA
has very positive, succuessful and long standing relations with MANY
other groups. Not fair or appropriate for nwta to be police. Management
plan is handcuffing single track progress.

MEMBER
Portland would like to be like Bend in terms of single track riding
experience, but this unrealistic. We can be guides not enforcement for
those who ride or create illegal trails. To help guide unwanted behavior
we need to direct them. If the city wants NWTA to be able to help, then
give us some ammo. NWTA needs successes to build upon and get credit.

MEMBER
What is going on with Powell Butte trails change? Emily responds - what
we had were just recommendations but we needed some pedestrian only
trails wild Hawthorne is the only real change. Tom Archer responds -
This feels like a switcharoo... If there is consideration of pedestrian
only, then shouldn't there also be consideration for bike only trails?
Segragation of trails will be an issue.

MEMBER We care and
have hope that we can effect change.  We need to guide and be a good
example.  Clean up, be kind, be ambasadors. Portland parks could help
with the positive, help tap media and get pro mtbing info out, events,
etc.

MEMBER Sandy Ridge took 7 years, but took a mtb on
staff for it to be a reality. Who is that person going to bat for us at
Parks? Do we have a mtb advocate in Parks? If so, who is it?

MEMBER
Many feel mtb illegally is acceptable since it has been the status quo
for so long and Parks has done very little to step in and take a
leadership roll or provide options.

MEMBER Latest report
of Illegal Forest Park trail was not accurate. We are not going to be
able affect change without ammo. Skill course/pumptracks. We may not be
able to replicate the DH experience, but what can we do? Skateparks are
an example.

MEMBER I am a high school teacher and I know
kids riding their bikes in illegal places.  I don't believe they are
intending to do something because it's illegal, they do it because they
have zero options.  PP and R is really behind the curve with this user
group.  People are trying to find some mellow singletrack trails and
these kids are WAY beyond that type of riding.  It's like trying to find
flat parking lots for skateboarders when they have moved onto riding
halfpipes.  They will be more than willing to pick up shovels and care
for their trails (and learn trailbuilding techniques)  if given the
opportunity.  They aren't bad kids, they are begin forced to act like
bad kids by adults making bad decisions.  Why can't we give them a
downhill trail (and pump track/dirt jumps) in Washington Park that is
out of the way of hiking and roads for them to ride?  If you want to
eliminate user conflict, this is the obvious solution.  They aren't
going to stop riding, so closing off trails means they will just create
more.

Emily responds - do not have the resources in parks.
Can't meet the needs. Other opportunities? Non natural parks may be a
better option. What are the opportunities? Start with the skills areas.

MEMBER
We (NWTA) are resources.

Emily responds -Need to invest
in places outside FP?

MEMBER How about a DH trail in
Washington park? Is that an option? Who is a mtb champion in parks?

Emily
responds - I would encourage that. A downhill trail may be a option
going forward

David Anderson challenged Emily/PPR to give a reason to support them (PP&R) since they
aren't supporting his riding styles.  They need to give a reason to
vote for their bond measures and to support them.  They haven't - yet.

Emily responds - Parks is
thinking about mtb, if funding comes, it's in the plans.

MEMBER
Has parks looked at other mtb Oregon destination areas as models?
(Bend, Oakridge, Blackrock, Hood River)

MEMBER Nwta have
always showed up as stewards. FP and Powell butte owe much to nwta and
pump. Segregation does not work, spread them out and less conflict, less
division, less us vs. them.

Emily responds - Comes down
to money for updating plans.

MEMBER Mountian bikers bring
to the table many huge benefits - economic, labor, education, and
passion.

Kate Edlin - there is agreement, we have a huge
step forward in talking with parks

Tom Archer - At this
point we need reasonable goals and timelines. Need to check in and do
this again in 6 months. We need to savvy and disciplined.

-There
were other really good comments, and bunch more detail that I wasn't
able to capture.