February 2021 Advocacy Minutes

Advocacy Agenda

February 1, 2020  6:00 - 7:30  p.m. 

Virtual - Zoom

Ben Stone - Trails Coordinator/ Advocacy Committee Chairperson

Matt Bartelt, President and Narrator

Slide Show

  1. Welcome and Introductions - 

Mentimeter - informal polls taken throughout the meeting

  1. General updates 

    1. Status of volunteer work 

10 or less volunteers allowed at this time (purple tier); sign up SDMBA meetup page: MUST PRE-REGISTER!

  1. Future Events - Archipelago Ride-

Planning starts ~ 7 months prior, therefore, no in person event will happen this year. Held a survey:  results - 76% want to roll their registration into 2022

  1. Trail Safety resources

SDMBA page has info on how to survive MTB; also a resource page linked to our trail page; CPR info, etc.

 

  1. Who are your Elected Officials and Why it Matters! 

    1. State Senatorial Districts -see slide for our 4 State Senators 

    2. State Assembly Districts -see slide; note: some have shifted their stance

    3. County Supervisor Districts - many changes here; Nora Vargas took place of Greg Cox who was a major supporter/advocate

Unincorporated county officials are involved in both the city as well as the uninc. areas.

  1. Local City Councils - many opportunities to get involved locally; planning council, city councils and mayor, etc.

    Each official has a circle of people working with them;

Know when to contact an elected official; staffers are good people to get to know so you can get a feel for the official’s focus/stance, etc.

    Creating a relationship when a crisis is NOT going on helps move things forward 

    More quickly when there is a crisis.

 

  1. SDMBA Trail updates (Ben)  

    1. Daley Ranch continued work on trails this winter and machine work on some trails - working on a road which will someday be a trail.

    2. Work on the TECC trail near Elfin Forest started this last week - with Escondido Creek Conservancy and Olivenhain Water Dist.

    3. La Costa work planned for this winter on Whiptail and Switchbacks - still looking for some people to take leadership there, specifically for Nascar (Dropdown)

    4. Construction of a new section of the Coast to Crest trail this winter planned - connects the switchbacks to Artesian Rd.

    5. Potential work at Penasquitos coming soon with some new short trail connections - new connection off of Calle Christa. 

Eastern end of tunnel 1 - trail that goes up the other side will go away. Intuit to Camino del Sur is an illegal trail, but we’re working on a possible change here. No trailwork allowed at Black Mountain right now (City of San Diego is saying no at this point); Question: Chula Vista trail ‘Snake Trail’ - Susie is expecting to hear on the date for trail work here. 

  1. Advocacy Updates (Susie)

    1. Stowe Trail Permit reminder - 5 year anniversary of bike confiscation

    2. Right of Entry Permit City of San Diego

    3. Trails Sub-Committee of the City of San Marcos approved ebikes on trails and other ebike news (flyrides) - SDMBA webpage has 

5k donation from flybikes for our trailwork; virtual programs for their clients and eventually in person events with flyrides as our partner.

  1. Continued work on trails plans at Daley Ranch, Mt Laguna and Sycamore Canyon- County has done an EIR study which led to extensive delay. Should be opened up soon for trail work.

  2. Kevin Loomis is the trail user representative on the Mission Trails Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC). 

  3. Trail Liaison Vacancies:  Balboa Park/Florida Canyon;  La Costa; Cuyamaca State Park; Mount Laguna - Meadow Area - get in touch with Ben if interested. 

Mt. Laguna - Brian Suzuki and team is focused on this.

Why the focus on Advocacy: 50% increase in trail use has led to many novice users who aren’t familiar with etiquette and rules. We have time on our hands (due to Covid).

 

  1. Bike Park updates (Susie)

    1. Pacific Highlands Ranch reopened with higher fence (managed by the City of SD)

    2. Sweetwater - restrooms soon! -flush toilets, hand-washing, etc.

    3. Greg Cox  Bike Park - Otay (County) - under construction/moving dirt, replacing fences.

    4. City of San Marcos - Bradley Park- will have jump lines, some flow trail. 

    5. Carlsbad -Veterans Memorial Park - plan update Feb 23rd slated for city council approval.

    6. City of Escondido - Jesmond Dene park PumpTrack

    7. City of Alpine (County Project)  Prelim design presented in January

 

  1. Additional questions

Cardiac hill -series of girders which SDG&E intended to use for a bridge; nothing pending at this point.

El Corazon (Oceanside) -

 

Next meeting: 

May 3  6 p.m.