Democracy Inaction

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 7.5% BF

 

Well, that was like shooting fish in a barrel, except that the fish didn't actually show up: The Salisbury Twp meeting last night was "a preliminary meeting for public input" about the planned development of, of... what was the name of that park again? Apparently the park in its entirety will be called Lehigh Mountain Park, though a certain portion is now known as Walking Purchase Park, or Riverside Park, or something... Lots of mountain bikers were there, as well as many many residents and a few other interested parties, like a guy who does bird inventories along the river, peeps like that. The project manager, a landscape architect from some engineering firm seemed like a pretty good guy (everyone seemed pretty nice), and things went rather well.

 

The meeting started with an overview of the geological, ecological, and historical/archaeological features of the park, then some presentation of current recreational activities, and then the architect talked about what he thinks should be done to move things forward. (His main proposal: make the park more "park-like," with identifiable boundaries, plus parking areas and information kiosks, picnic and camping and yes, ATV areas.) Finally, there was the public input part.

 

Apparently, the rumor that ATV's would be allowed at the park had spread, because all of the public commenters, especially residents, were there to denounce it. All were vehemently opposed, and strongly voiced their opinions that enforcement of existing laws against ATV use (as well as against littering/dumping, vandalism, and drug use) needed to be a top priority.  I think that the architect was taken aback a bit, and said that his (initial and preliminary) proposal, to allow some ATV use at the park, was based on a survey of current use (like they would decriminalize the trash dumping and crack use, based on a survey of current park use). No one had anything good to say about the ATV's, no advocates showed up to defend themselves -- not surprising really, considering that it would basically be an admission of criminal activity -- and I think that a message was received and duly noted. We'll see where it goes from here.

 

A couple of the VMB'ers hit the Bethlehem Brew Works afterward for dinner. Doug, Spanky, Joe G, Lucas, E-Rock, Jim D, it was a pretty big crew. I was starving, had a cheese steak, slipping is crash's law but tonight it's back to yoga and the routine (hopefully).

 

Rest In Peace: Heath Ledger, cut down in his prime, as was skier Billy Poole. The good die young.