Who Owns the Parkway?
This is worth protecting. (SRN photo)
If you read the Sacramento Bee, you’ve probably noticed the spate of articles on the Sacramento County Park Rangers’ plans to crack down on speeding cyclists.
There was the original article, which has over 470 comments, (450 of them by idiots), which I responded to here, and the Bee’s follow-up Can’t We All Just Get Along? editorial from yesterday—plus many, many letters to the editor.
The comments and letters have centered on the visceral “cyclists are jerks vs. runners are idiots” and vice versa.
The elephant in the room that no one is discussing is the fact that the high usage of the parkway implies that it would be a good use of County funds for improvement and maintenance.
For the past several years, the County has been draining money away from maintenance and security budgets for the entire park system.
This is especially tragic because the American River Parkway is the thin green line between Sacramento being pretty good city and a great city.
You could fill the planned Kings stadium with the people that use the parkway on a daily basis, and yet the local elected officials would rather pledge millions for the Kings and the proposed stadium than spend one thin dime to protect the Parkway.
The answer to my question of “Who owns the Parkway?” is of course: All of Us.
I think it’s time for us to remind our elected officials that it is important to us and a tremendous asset to the community.
Totally agree, we need this local treasure protected and cared for. I’m not really sure why local spending related to the Kings has to do with this though. There are lots of things our local government dedicates funds to, that are not the Parkway trails.
If anything, what has happened with the Kings should be looked at as a blue print for how to save something you love. If users of the Parkway trail system banded together to show support and express their need for the Parkway with the same effort and passion showed by Sacramento Kings fans, I think our elected officials would know exactly how important this asset is to our community.
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