Equestrian Lynn Brown has notified Griffith Park users, equestrians, and city officials that there is a Bicycle Plan afoot that would allow mountain bikes on the Park Trails! This is insane. No one wants to be pushed aside by a piece of noisy, smelly machinery. We already have cars for that. (Or, if they don’t have machinery, they might whoop and holler.) In any case, they squish things that should be left alive and moving.
There is a proposal from the city (why is it that the city listens to bad ideas?) to allow mountain bikers to use non-paved trails in Griffith Park, and all City Parks. This includes the 50 miles of equestrian trails in GP. Presently, this is against the law, but mountain bikers have lobbied pretty successfully to get the Ordinance changed to allow this travesty. Mountain bikes on unpaved trails will do irreparable damage to wildlife habitat.
After years of behind the scenes manipulations, the Bicycle Plan is now open for public review and comment. The mountain bike lobby is making a push for City Park trails by overturning the current City Ordinance forbidding bikes on trails. In this bike plan, bikers are asking for access to trails in Griffith Park, Elysian Park, Serrania Park, O’Melveny Park, Santa Ynez Canyon and Lime Kiln Canyon Park, among others. If the Ordinance is overturned, all Parks will be opened to mountain bikers.
To view the Bike Plan.
For Mountain bike sections go here. Chapter 3, and Appendix H.
For those who were unable to attend the meetings, you can make comments by sending an email to: Mr. Jordann Turner at Jordann.Turner@lacity.org.
Or mail a letter or postcard to:
City of Los Angeles, Dept. of City Planning,
Jordann Turner, Bicycle Plan Project Manager
200 N. Spring Street, Room 721
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Some suggested comments:
The Bicycle Master Plan is a transportation plan. Mountain bikes are a recreational, extreme sport. The mountain bike element should be moved to the Appendix of the Plan. It is NOT City Policy. It has no business being in a Bicycle Master Plan. The mountain bike recreational concerns should be relegated to Rec. and Parks, not brought in under the guise of the Department of Transportation (DOT). This issue (mountain biking) has diverted resources and energies away
from the primary goal to make bicycling a real transportation option.
Mountain biking was found not feasible after the 1996 Bike Master Plan.
This issue was already settled. Nothing is new.
Allowing mountain biking on any trail in any location in the City parks will require changing the City Park Ordinance. If the Ordinance is changed, the door is then open to all trails all the time. It is urgent to support the continued implementation of the Park Ordinance.
The City already spent $5 million on a mountain bike park. Significant
public resources were spent on the strength of CORBA’s word and
commitment to this park. They quit after one try. This should be
investigated.
The City agreed to do environmental studies at this mountain bike park.
It never did.
No one likes a bully, LA City Bicycle Plan. I would feel really uncomfortable colliding with one of these on a windy path, wouldn’t you? Don’t allow this.
Photo thanks to Brian Auer, under Creative Commons on Flickr.
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Horses damage the environment more than bicyclist. reference:
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/ManageMaintain/WKeenImpacts.html
There should be greater restrictions on horses in Griffith Park and the Santa Monica Mountains. Horses are a major source of pollution in the Malibu Creek Watershed.
http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/tmdl/malibu/final_nutrients.pdf
I support equal access to trails by bikes and horses. Ban them both or allow total access to both. It’s the only fair thing to do.
Hi, John, very interesting link on trails, thanks. I might write further on this issue. The pdf is too complicated. For me, even if I’m not blonde. If you can pull a paragraph or drill down, that might be good, too.
The first paragraph of this post is full of misinformation. I suggest the author take the time to actually learn about the healthful and very popular sport that she dismisses out of hand.
First, mountain bikes are not “noisy” or “smelly.” Mountain bikes do not have an engine, Ms. Barstow. You may be thinking of motorbikes. Motorized vehicles are not the issue here. Mountain bicycles are human powered, practically silent, and emit no odor (which is more than can be said for horses).
In fact, mountain bikes are so quiet that as a biker, I frequently call out around blind corners to alert hikers and bikers to my presence. Perhaps this is the source of the “whooping” that Ms. Barstow is concerned about.
Second, it is very disingenuous to post a picture of a downhill mountain biker in this post. The vast majority of riders are NOT of this type. Downhill riding requires special equipment similar to motocross racing (as can be seen in the picture) and special courses and will likely not be taking place in a public park, I assure you.
In all of my years of Mountain Biking, I have never, NEVER, squished anything that could not just as easily be squished by a horse or a hiker. I have never hit a small animal or a bird. Mountain bikes only average 10 to 15 mph on offroad trails which is simply not fast enough to catch most woodland creatures by surprise.
Finally, trails are public land. If the decision is made to allow people to access the land, then it should be accessed equitably. Why should there be exclusive “equestrain” trails on public land? Mountain bikers outnumber equestrians by a large margin and we are starting to organize and assert ourselves politically because we have been marginalized and treated like criminals on public land for far too long.
Thank you.
Thanks, Michael. You’re right, I was thinking more of motorized bikes, an expression I’ve never heard, actually.
But I stand behind the photo! The trails in GP are very steep, and for you to assert no one rides downhill…I don’t think so.
I’m happy to hear you never hit an animal or bird or person. I don’t believe that you never ran over amphibians or insects, too. How could a lizard or snake get out of the way fast enough from your silent speedy trail!
Finally, I do agree in equality – there should be some trails for bikers. Personally, I’d keep away from them, and I guess animals would learn to, too.
donna you really shouldn’t talk about things you appear to know nothing about. michael wasn’t asserting that we don’t go downhill, ‘downhill’ is a term for an extreme form of mountain biking that the majority of us do not do.
downhill bikes are heavy and not ridable uphill by most riders, riders who do strictly downhill style mountain bike do it at places like ski slope where there is a chair to get them to the top or other areas where a van can drive them to the top. areas like these do not exist in griffith park. the majority of us like the challenge of going uphill as well as down and the majority of us know to control our speed and have common courtesy when in the proximity of other trail users.
Of all the trails in Griffith Park, opening one or two to recreational bicyclists in only fair. Let’s see, what’s like likely to do more damage?..
An 800 lb horse with iron shoes with a 175 lb. rider or a 30 lb. bicycle with inflated rubber tires and 175 lb rider? Also, the bike doesn’t take enormous dumps on the trails
Park advocates preach green issues, but are willing to say to bicyclists, get on your car and take a drive to some other park because we’re to close minded to realize that there’s a compromise that could work for everyone.
Also, snakes and lizards (and birds, believe it or not) have been getting out of harms way since the dawn of time. I think Darwin may have commented on this phenomenon at one point.
Sheesh.
Well, that seems fair, that quiet non-motorized bikes could have some trails to themselves. The proposal was to make all the trails accessible to bikes, though.
Actually, I don’t think all the trails should be accessible to either horses or bikes.
But since everyone here seems to know so much more than I do, how fast do bikes go? Much much faster than the walking horses or me. Maybe the Darwinian animals can get out of the way, but how fast can I? Not so much. And to say you want to affect the evolution of animals by how fast you ride is irresponsible.
Damage on trails are caused by rain and horses. Horses will create much deeper ruts than bike tires and unlike dog owners who will pick up the feces, horse owners are special and leave enormous amounts of smelly and unsanitary feces all over (they are too good to pick up after their horses)
Rasta, I don’t think rain is a problem. Nor are ruts – nobody promised a trail would be flat and neat and tidy like a paved road.
I agree, someone should pick up after the horses. However, horse dung is much better for the environment than dog doo, because they’re vegetarians – that’s why dog crap smells so horrible – the meat in it is decaying.
Please don’t stand behind the photo used in your article. It is from a private freeride park in NJ (not public) specifically made for jumps, speed and drops.
Maybe this should be hikers enjoying nature:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40526757@N08/3726189689/sizes/l/in/set-72157621430656359/
and equestrians:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alydar_1978/3280921398/in/photostream/
Can we please keep things in context. I’ve been fortunate to enjoy all three activities throughout my life. Let’s stop scaring people and share a little.
The trails in Griffith Park were always intended to be BRIDLE PATHS, NOT MOUNTAIN BIKING TRAILS. It is not just an issue of damage – it is also an issue of use and Mr. Griffith NEVER intended the park to be used as bike paths and bicylists were not included from the start for a reason!
Horses and fast moving bikes do not mix!
The problem bikers don’t seem to want to understand is that horses are prey animals and do not like anything ZOOMING up behind them. I can only imagine the number of injuries and deaths that would occur mixing the two in large numbers.
I live near and walk in Fryman Canyon which does allow mountain bikers and even as a pedestrian bikes come whizzing up behind you. And when path space is limited you the hiker have to move out of their way because they are moving quickly- There used to be a few local people who would ride horses in Fryman but sadly they are all gone now that the masses and the bikers have invaded.
I am a third generation native Los Angelean and I am so sick of people who try to change what has made areas like this special.
These places do not stay special when you let everyone come in to and do whatever they want just because they feel a sense of entitlement.
The park was designed for horses and hikers and needs to stay that way FOREVER -
Donna, It seems like you just want the trails to yourself. That’s very unfair! There SHOULD Be some sort of compromise! Hiking on these specific trails only? Biking on these specific trails only? Find a local mountain bike club and communicate with them! They will help you alot! The mountain bike clubs WILL help maintain what they ride also, I have yet to hear of any hikers assisting in trail building or maintenance to my knowledge.
Horses and ATV’s destroy trails worse than hikers and bikers do!
Cristalle…..millions of $$ spent on PUBLIC land….just for who you want it for? seriously! We all own this land…..share.
IDEA: have specific days that the park is for use! rotate a schedule for hikers, equestrian and cyclists. M,W,F,Sun – hikers and horses. Tu,Th,Sat cyclists and rotate it each week. There are easy solutions to this problem if EVERYONE will do a little compromising!
PS: I dont like riding on trails where Horse/Dog pooooo gets slung up on me from my wheels. Cyclists do not defecate on the trails like horses and dogs.
AL
Please see 4th paragraph below pertaining to mountains bikes:
September 9, 2005
VIA FACSIMILE TO Clare Darden, Griffith Trust Member
Open Letter to the Department of Recreation and Parks
As the great-grandson of Col . Griffith I am writing to express my disappointment with the 2004 Griffith Park Master Plan. It seems the Melendrez Group wants to turn the park into an amusement park and/or major national tourist attraction, neither of which is what it was intended to be. It was intended to be a natural habitat where the people of Los Angeles could get away from the daily stresses of city life and relax in an uncluttered atmosphere. The numerous references to Central Park in New York are completely inappropriate. Central Park is a large mostly flat area in the middle of a major metropolitan city. Griffith Park is a rural mountainous mecca where people can commune with nature, hike, ride, or picnic their problems away. It does not need any more attraction than that.
I have read the digest of public feedback made to the city by the people of Los Angeles. 95% of these comments seem to be negative to this plan. I urge you to listen to these people, as they are the ones my great-grandfather intended to benefit from the use of the park, and perhaps get their input on restructuring a new master plan. I know many of them care deeply about the park and would be happy to serve on committees and attend community meetings to rectify this situation.
I am not in favor of, nor do I think my great-grandfather would be , of aerial trams, restaurants, lodging, kiosks, parking structures or commercial signage, all of which are not conducive to the natural environment of the park.
I am in favor of, speed bumps to deter drive thru usage, one designated mountain bike trail (to be maintained by those who use it), improvements to existing trails and roads, and perhaps some soccer fields for our youths would be appropriate as it is a park.
Finally, all these grandiose plans seem to be pointing toward entry, parking, and usage fees. May I remind you that in the deed to the city it stipulates that Griffith Park is to be a free park for the enjoyment of the people of Los Angeles. Any type of imposed fees would be a violation of the deed and will be vigorously contested by the Griffith family.
Sincerely,
(signature)
Van Griffith
Here is the link to the site:
http://www.gmrnet.com/MasterPlan.html
By the way AL no one is keeping you and your bike out of the park, just off the bridle paths! There are plenty of other places for you to ride!
Land for equestrain use here in Metro LA is very limited and is continuing to diminish – Look at all the trails mountain bikers have access to:
http://www.labikepaths.com/
I would also like to know how horse “poo” is getting on your bike if you are staying off trails restricted to you? And if it bothers you soooo much why are you riding through it? There are no areas where any type of feces blankets massive ares of trail or road in the park to the point where you cannot avoid it. Get real!