You are hereLove Redbox? Let the City know this Thursday!
Love Redbox? Let the City know this Thursday!
Leslie Luciano from Bicycle Sport Shop let me know of an upcoming meeting that will have great impact on the future of Redbox. The Thursday Night Urban Social Ride paid Redbox trail a visit a few weeks back and I was surprised at how many people didn't know about the trail, jumps, and pump-track nestled away besides the train tracks that run through the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. Here's the information on the meeting:
It would be great if we could get some cyclists that are passionate about that area at the meeting. I think a lot of those folks don’t realize what cyclists have put into the clean up and maintenance of this park. Take a look behind the barbed wire fence at BSS and you can see what could be there if the cyclists weren’t present. It’s a dump for bottles and trash, and a habitat for the homeless.
West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt (Red Box): "BMX v. Undisturbed Wildlife" dispute led to request for environmental assessments. Wildflower Center did a limited assessment of 7 acres of this greenbelt. Watershed Protection also did an assessment of erosion around the creek. Two public stakeholder meetings are planned for 6:00 p.m. on June 11 (Becker Cafeteria) and 6:00 p.m. on July 8 (Elk's Lodge) .
Please plan to attend the first West Bouldin Greenbelt stakeholder meeting this Thursday, June 11 at 6pm in the Becker Elementary Cafeteria.
The Ladybird Wildflower Center and the City’s Watershed Protection Department will present the findings from their respective environmental and erosion assessments. Your input is needed to begin planning for the use of the 54 acre green space. Some of the ideas that will be discussed are:
Hike and bike trails
Natural meadows
Undisturbed habitat
BMX trails
The Wildflower Center will use the input gathered at the June 11th meeting to propose a master plan for future use and development of the greenbelt. This plan will then be presented at the 2nd stake holder meeting Wednesday July 8, at the Elks Club.
This first meeting is critical to attend for input from cyclists. More info on their calendar: http://bouldincreek.org/n/
Thanks for the heads-up Leslie! If any of you make regular use of these jumps or this trail and would rather it look USED (and better) than unused and occupied by homeless (aka worse), please show up for the meeting and make your voices heard.
I was in Houston Thursday, and would love to get some feedback from anyone who was at the meeting. I tend to be optimistic, that with a little "education" some of those against the "evil bmx-ers". I think a good discussion is always worthwile. Send me your thoughts.
l.
Leslie Luciano
Community Relations Manager
Bicycle Sport Shop
www.bicyclesportshop.com
http://bssadvocacy.wordpress.com
twitter @BSS_Austin
facebook http://budurl.com/BSSFB
I think the meeting went well. As I mentioned on Mojo, this environmental impact study has been in the works for over a year. There were some neighbors a few years back that were concerned that Redbox was not being used or maintained and also concerned that the jumps may have been damaging the land or creek. The Wildflower Center report showed minimal impact. They had some good suggestions including a water line and planting more shade. They had also identified an area that was pretty close to the old jumps, that could be a site to move the jumps with more shade and closer to the creek. It didn't sound like moving the jumps was a popular idea in the meeting though. My opinion is the current site would work fine with water, shade and some other improvements. Please fill out a survey to give feedback to the Wildflower center...
http://www.wildflower.org/westbouldin/
I would like to mention that over the years there has been communication problems between the biking community and the neighborhood organization. Moving forward, we need to establish a venue for communicating between the riders and the hood. The riders that maintain the jumps tend to come and go but most of the neighborhood folks active in BCNA have been the same. It would be great to have a place to go to post info and connect with the riders. I have used bikemojo in the past, but I would like to have a Redbox specific location where we can post neighborhood concerns, BCNA contact info for the bikers, etc.
-Chuck
Or coincidence? "Those cyclists will be at city hall and we can avoid their input!" is what comes to my mind.
Show up and represent kids; the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association refuses to let this one go. They've done it before, and they'll do it again.