County Puts Brakes on Bike Fest

Why am I not surprised that it has come down to this? Elings Park has a long track record of ignoring what it wants to ignore. Unfortunately now over the last several years that has gotten recreational groups such as BMX racers and mountain bikers caught up in the cross fire with neighbors. Seems like a big communication breakdown on the Park's side but a covenant is a covenant and you can't ignore that. Thanks Elings, for screwing it up for us local, passive bike riders.

`could' prove very disruptive to nesting birds.... people walking their dogs also `could' prove very disruptive to nesting birds. In fact, dogs off leash are banned from a variety of plover nesting grounds for just this reason.

To pile on the political theatre here, the Park organization has a huge development plan currently under review by City of Santa Barbara. Their draft Environmental Impact Report crashed and burned at the City Planning Commission last November, as deftly reported by the Independent:
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/...

They had the usual mega-project problems of traffic, noise, night lighting, biological impacts, etc., and especially a zoning change for the south area of this private park.

I am just amazed about why the Elings Park officials would be picking a fight against the neighbors and the County like this when, to get their big project approved, they still want a favorable outcome with the neighbors and the City for their actual land development proposal.

The notes in this Indy article are clear evidence that the County has been trying for nearly a year, through several meetings, to get the Elings Park officials to comply with the original agreement, but the Park officials are pretending now that it is all a surprise. And then they think no one would check up on the facts, as reported here by the Indy and as obviously anticipated by the County staff who prepared the notes.

Pretending this history does not exist pretty much sinks their credibility from now on to work out any, any accord with the neighbors on some version of their proposed project that can be approved by the City. For more about what the neighbor and public groups are doing, they have their own website:
http://www.saveelingspark.org/
(mute the automatic music)

David, w/ all due respect, didn't you refer to those involved w/ the Elings park BMX Raceway as "those BMX people" @ a meeting w/ mesa residents to garner their support?
Are you inferring that we're an uneducated, trailer park trash element in "your" backyard?
What's next in your line of speech? Those Jews? Those Blacks? Those Latinos?
Amazing how an Orange Co. law firmn has been hired @ the expense of SB Co. taxpayer $$$. Actually, not a surprise, since no local law ffirm would want to committ legal/political suicide.
But hey, after the rally yesterday headway was made & THE BIKEFEST WILL GO ON!
Judge Anderlee's decision will make that clear come next Tuesday :) henry

Take these guys seriously. The Elings Park Foundation are a bunch of great guys fully committed to turning our jewel of a park into a force transforming the face of sleepy Santa Barbara. Why shouldn't our community be just as nice as Los Angeles? Just imagine what we could have:

Elings Regional Park: the second happiest place on earth

http://www.elingsregionalpark.com/

No, hank, I am not inferring that nor am I implying that.
Nor did I say that, if at all, in any context you are insinuating.

As my prior commentary indicated, the Elings Park project advocates would help themselves better by not insulting people or ignoring the facts at issue here, especially regarding the Covenant agreement that prohibits certain land uses and activities on the property as a condition of accepting the $525K of public grant money about 10 years ago.

Those prohibitions and why the County hired that particular law firm are explained in detail in this Indy article.

Attack me all you want, but that does not change the stubborn facts of this legal case.

Another remedy could be simply to return the $525K plus interest. But that would not change the zoning of the south park area, away from its current "passive recreation" zoning status.

Santa Barbara is not for sale.

David, no attack intended, just trying to figure what your agenda is, based on a quoted comment you made by a source. Yes, I relied on a source so there might be some inaccuracy, a risk we take when using such, but this source is reliable. I will give the benefit of the doubt though.
Scaringly enough it falls in line w/ many of the mesa folks that want an end to anything fun @ Elings park. Do these neighbors REALLY hate outdoor activities that much?
They talk about "development" as if Elings Park is building some high rise or something. Yet these folks live in the ultimate development: HOUSES, many that weren't there a little while back. What about the poor little creatures that were displaced upon the construction of said structures?
On top of that some of these "concerned neighbors" have carried out acts of vandalism & theft against legit park users. Let's not even mention threats of physical violence made by said concerned neighbors against park users & supporters. It all amounts to a brand of xenophobia known as Not In My Back Yard. The problem is that it is OUR backyard, plurality vs. singularity.
Then there's the obvious manipulation of the data, the inaccuracies (@ best) & outright lies (@ worst) by this same contingent.
Like I said, no attack intended, as I respect you & your views. Just trying to understand why such a hateful agenda exists within some folks.
As for the covenant, it is SO full of voids & holes that it can be used as a sieve. Well, actually not, as it would allow big particles to slide through, that's how hole riddled it is.
In coversation w/ Janet Wolf yesterday somebody brought up that the SB Co Supes were being pressured by a select group of individuals. She assured us that she is not being pressured.
I personally find it hard to believe when the arguments being used by the county are identical to those used by the mesa residents who have a sheer hatred toward Elings Park :) henry

Elings Park was been plotting with the City of Santa Barbara for years to create a Regional Park and extinguish the Covenant. They would have lost the property to foreclosure if they had not taken the Taxpayers money, now they want to pretend the Covenant does not exist and they can do what they wish. Bottom line, don't take Taxpayer money and execute Covenants if you cannot live with the strings attached. Bicycles going 10 times the speed of pedestrian travel is not passive. The coyote, skunk, and raccoon have all been chased out of the park by the mountain bikes. Trails have been cut without any engineering, bet no permits. The untreated ground asphalt from the Caltrans Las Positas/Cliff repave was dumped as uncovered roadway base going up to the cellular antennas, the lane buttons can be seen after each rain and the MTB's and other asphalt roadway pollutants have drained down towards Arroyo Burro. AA and 9 volt batteries along with hundreds of nylon tie-wraps left to decay on the ground after every Bikefest.

Passive not hardly.

Good Job, Elings

Howgreenwasmyvalley, w/ emphasis on "MY":

Elings Park was been plotting with the City of Santa Barbara for years to create a Regional Park and extinguish the Covenant. They would have lost the property to foreclosure if they had not taken the Taxpayers money, now they want to pretend the Covenant does not exist and they can do what they wish. Bottom line, don't take Taxpayer money and execute Covenants if you cannot live with the strings attached.

The covenant as written is very subject to interpretation & full of holes. Those will be fixed.

Bicycles going 10 times the speed of pedestrian travel is not passive. The coyote, skunk, and raccoon have all been chased out of the park by the mountain bikes.

Sorry, but you could NOT be more wrong! I've encountered many a skunk, opossum, fox, coyote & racoon populations on those trails that would totally shoot this claim out of the water. It is SO cool to stop, sit there & watch them from a safe distance as they enjoy the same land we enjoy. Heck, should've seen the 4' gopher snake I picked up & put in a safe location a couple of days ago!

Trails have been cut without any engineering, bet no permits.

The trails that have been supposedly "cut w/ no permits" were already there, just cleaned up, something concerned neighbors like yourself won't take the time to do.

The untreated ground asphalt from the Caltrans Las Positas/Cliff repave was dumped as uncovered roadway base going up to the cellular antennas, the lane buttons can be seen after each rain and the MTB's and other asphalt roadway pollutants have drained down towards Arroyo Burro.

Interesting point, but again, dead wrong. The supposed asphalt is actually decomposed granite, clink rock if you will. As for eroding to Arroyo Burro, sheesh, what a longshot!

AA and 9 volt batteries along with hundreds of nylon tie-wraps left to decay on the ground after every Bikefest.

Dude, you REALLY got me laughing here. The MTB community cleans up after itself, more than likely more than the homeowners trying to lay claim to this land. Now I know we ALL ain't perfect so there may be a couple of bad apples in the bunch, but the Elings Park staff takes every step to make sure there's no grabage left after all's said & done.

Keep grasping @ the proverbial straws, you make more of a case for Elings than you can imagine.
Now you got me thinking to change my screen name to "HowawesomeisOURpark!"
By the way, on behalf of Elings Park, thanks for the kudos on the "Good job Elings" portion of the post :) henry

Passive recreation = hiking trails and horseback riding?

Please! Don't hiking trails require cutting of trails, just like bike trails?

Horseback riding is much more damaging to trails than mountain bike riding. Don't believe that, go up any of the local trails shortly after a rain and enjoy all of the hoof marks. Do people really think rubber tires with a couple hundred pounds on them cause more damage than 4 feet with metal shoes and over 1000 pounds of weight?

This story and others like it are some of the reasons I moved out of SB. It's sad that residents can't see the big picture that providing outdoor recreation is good for the community.

What's wrong with a bike race? One weekend a year? A loud PA? I live near Earl Warren and depending on the wind I hear all kinds of thing out there. However, only during normal business hours. I could care less. I woke up one morning to Jack Johnson talking to a crowd before a cancer walk. What the heck is wrong with a bike race? Man, people need to relax. It seems very spineless to sue so close to the actual event. Why do that? Why not 2 months ago? Ugghh. Governement workers. The same people that can't figure out that the key to closing the budget gap is to not have the county pay their pension fund for 1 year (just like normal folks losing the 401k matching for a year or two). But no, "I'm entitled to it". Sorry about that off topic rant, but sure is par for the course. Gov't sucks. Good luck everyone.

Perhaps the north side should be sold to Marborg to turn back into a dump and the south side should be sold to an Orange County developer to end all this bickering.

Hmm... David Pritchett's logic is: because Elings had an expansion plan, we now must believe that because a kid on a bicycle *could* harm a nesting bird, and kids on bicycles must be served a court injunction to cease and desist from riding bikes on the South portion of Elings.

Pritchett is bringing in a totally unrelated issue to hide the absurdity at the heart of what the County has done here.

That absurdity is again: the County hired a professional biologist to give an opinion as to whether a kid on a bicycle *could* harm a nesting bird (isn't that obvious?), but did not ask that same biologist whether horseback riding, dog walking, crashing a hang-glider, etc, *could* also harm a nesting bird.

The reason the County didn't query the biologist about those other activities: pure politics. The biologist obviously would have given the opinion that horseback riding, dog walking, hang-gliding, motorized model airplanes, etc, *could also* harm a nesting bird, and consequently, the County would have also been responsible for stopping those activities in addition to stopping kids on bicycles.

To compound the absurdity, the County hires Orange County lawyers to get a restraining order legal force kids not to ride bicycles on the South portion of the park.

How can the County live with itself for pissing away $100,000 on such absurdity? Dang I already voted absentee for Janet Wolf, but I regret that vote now.

" ...One weekend a year? A loud PA? I live near Earl Warren and depending on the wind I hear all kinds of thing out there. However, only during normal business hours. I could care less. I woke up one morning to Jack Johnson talking to a crowd before a cancer walk. ..."
-- Upper_State

With regard to the "noise complaints" for a once-a-year weekend event, I say the Elings neighbors are being anal and selfish. Yesterday, there was an all-day event in the stadium @SB High School with amplified sound and live music. The kids were obviously having a good time and that didn't bother me or my neighbors one bit.

David Pritchett: "Santa Barbara is not for sale."

Actually it is the integrity & soul of Santa Barbara that's for sale & the buyers were a law firm from Orange County hired by the SB Co Supes.
HOWEVER, SB's own residents can't even enjoy a simple bike race ONCE YEAR because a select group of individuals wants to keep the land as their own.
I see brown shirts here people, National Socialist Party mentality:
Agenda based on a holier than thou mentality? CHECK!
Xenophobia based on entitlement mentality? CHECK!
Hatred for people/things not like them? CHECK!
Acts of violence committed againt those who oppose their point of view? CHECK!
Attempt to pressure government to accept their agenda? CHECK!
Of course, the old defunct hammer & sickle would probably do fine for them as well. Hey, can somebody dig up Che Guevarra's corpse for these folks to give them inspiration? How about Lenin? After all, to the contingent who wants to ruin it for everybody, a page from George Orwell's Animal Farm is appropriate: "Everybody is equal tavarish, but some are MORE equal than others!"
Sorry for not getting back to this sooner, been in Fresno's Woodward park for a NBL BMX state race since Friday, 1st in 40-44 cruiser both days, 1st in 41 over expert both days, jumped the pro section (a ~20' gap from lip to lip) on the 2nd straight, feel great! :) henry

Hank,

You seem angry. If the Judge grants the TRO what are you going to call Judge.

Now that this issue is in a Court of Law, the Internet spin needs to stop; it does not help your position.

Next will be Demand for Documents and then Depositions under Oath, regardless of the outcome of the TRO.

The tons of asphalt from Caltrans used to modify the road up to the top; over 5 feet of fill between the Andy Gump and the left spur to the top, as the dirt road sloped down towards Las Positas and washed out every rain. Clink was put in after the antenna project.

The neat mini-Kubota backhoe, the one with tracks, brought in to cut the trails along Cliff drive and along Las Positas and several up from Las Positas to the plateau on top of the property; its called Discovery, that is when the TRUTH comes out.

Maybe Elings Park sold you a bill of goods; your anger should be focused at them.

If Elings Park wanted to do it right they would have extinguished the Covenant before beginning construction but their arrogance got in the way.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

-Aristotle

Hank,

Your tone is so emotionally charged and condescending that it is nearly impossible to take your comments seriously. Your responses demonstrate a clear lack of respect for those who do not share your views. If you want to be heard and respected, consider being polite and reasonable.

Horrors, some actual *soil grading* may have taken place on the portion of the South Parcel 50 feet or so from Cliff Drive. The birds nesting on the asphalt paving on Cliff Drive might have been scared by that work! Those birds love all the autos that fly over them, they've adapted to the natural environment of all the Mesa neighbors whizzing by at 50 mph in their gas-guzzlers on the way to `Save South Elings Park' meetings.

Any Elings Park neighbor who really cared about the environment would raze their own home and remediate their own property to pre-European contact conditions to encourage native bird nesting. That is an extremely effective way to help the nature environment, and entirely within the control of every Elings Park neighbor.

But as it is, the Elings Park neighbors cannot imagine any limits in effort and money *other people* must undertake to just let kids ride bikes.

The outcome of the suit is not going to matter soon as word is getting out to racers who were going to come from hours away that the event may not happen (hmm, I wonder where those people were going to stay and eat while in town for the race?)

Unless there's a definitive "yes, it's on" or "it's cancelled" in the next day or so, people are going to change their plans because they don't want to drive hours to find the event they came for is no more. Sad but true. The timing of the suit is terrible.

I wonder if the people opposed to the event are proud of the county spending money on the lawsuit and what they will be in favor of cutting in order to make up the shortfall in the budget?

Howgreenwasmyvalley: "You seem angry. If the Judge grants the TRO what are you going to call Judge."

I'll call him a judge that makes a legal decision. As for seeming angry, no, not angry, just sickened by the holier than thou, not in my backyard, neer dogooders that just want to ruin it for everybody.

Kingprawn: "Your tone is so emotionally charged and condescending that it is nearly impossible to take your comments seriously. Your responses demonstrate a clear lack of respect for those who do not share your views. If you want to be heard and respected, consider being polite and reasonable."

Then I'll make you a deal: Tell the people who have been spreading lies, misinformation, falsehoods, untruths, maniplating the data as well as causing personal property damage, threatening people & creating an atmosphere of negativity to stop & I will kindly rescind my comments. Otherwise, until then...
But I do hope you take the fact that I cleared the 2nd straight pro section @ Woodward Park BMX seriously :) henry

I would not want people like Hank or sevendolphins on my side of any issue that will come up before a judge -- their complete devotion to their own desires and interests, and contempt for the law, logic, or truth, is quite evident.

The words from Elings officials are disingenuous through and through. Rather than leading the cycling community by the nose to the steps of the Supervisors, they could/should have filed a request with them for an exception, as the covenant allows and as the County repeatedly proposed. The Elings people are arrogantly waging a PR war, but there's no way that can get them to where they want to go.

Since David Pritchett seems to know a lot of things pertaining to the Park, I'd be interested to hear from him what negotiations have taken place between the Park and the neighbors regarding the planned project. I've heard the Park has already proposed making a ton of changes to its plan especially regarding the South parcel. Are there a few self-appointed neighbors who have decided they know what is best for everyone else or are those proposed changes being shared with everyone?

As for this lawsuit, if the County agrees to settle the matter or if the Judge rules in favor of the Park it will seem pretty clear the Park was right all along. If the County refuses to settle or the Judge rules in their favor, then clearly the neighbors had a legitimate gripe and the Park should have backed down. I'm guessing that even if the neighbors/county lose, you'll see them making excuses and finding some other reason to argue. Given Pritchett has chosen to make himself a spokesperson for the neighbors, I'm hoping he'll set a good example and admit he was wrong if that turns out to be the case. If the event is banned, it would be nice to see someone from Elings do the same.

William, on all points made, AGREED 100%!

Truth machine, there'd be no need for me or 7 dolphins to be on your side, as you're opposed to what we see, therefore no worries, represent yourself.
The mesa neighbors of Elings Park have an agenda, a singular 1 @ that.
Sure, there's claims about ecology & protecting the environment, the typical green subterfuge. But the REAL green here is REAL ESTATE.
God forbid those property values drop should there be a park next door. I would think that would drive the property value up, but what do I know about real estate?
I recall 1 individual @ a ABR meeting complaining that he just moved in from Oxnard to a house next to the park & having to put up w/ the "sound of people having fun."
Well, sure beats the sounds of gunfire or someone shouting "SOMEBODY PLEASE CALL 911!" in the middle of the night that are particular to Oxnard.
But again, it was property value & the almighty dollar that his agenda was set on.
Speaking of the almighty dollar, how much was spent on the OC law firm the county hired to represent the disgruntled neighbors by proxy?
I can definitely tell you that the City of Santa Barbara will lose a lot of that almighty dollar if the Bikefest is cancelled, a lot of those folks attending happen to stay in local hotels & eat @ local restaurants.
But no, even @ 1 weekend per year (1.92% of the year weekend-wise) or 2 days of the year (0.55% on a regular or leap year-wise) is an aberration to the environment, err, property values.
I can also say that the dollar amount spent/wasted/subtracted from the city is quite a bit. Way to go!
If you want to maintain good property values tell the guy on Calle Andalucia to stop keying cars of park users when they park on the street. I can't tell you how much you can capture w/ a video camera, long range night vision lenses & wearing a Ghillie suit. Soon to be out on Youtube, watch for it!
By the way, the cars he's keyed belonged to people using the park to WALK THEIR DOGS, 1 of the many "passive activities" listed in the hole riddled covenant.
Tell the truth, state the real agenda, that'll show the real facts behind the matter, like we already don't know what they are :) henry

Keying cars of Park users? Wow! New low for the neighbors if true.

Hank,
David Pritchett seems to be saying something about your intellect. When he said this:
"No, hank, I am not inferring that nor am I implying that."

He seemed to be correcting your use of the word "infer" to show you that you should have said "imply" instead. When people correct your grammar or language in an argument it most often is a subtle jab at your intellect. I could be wrong, but that was how I read it--a petty shot at you before he responded to your remarks.

Bikefest Turns Into Bikefast---nothing to see here folks.
Move along. These aren't the 'Roids you're looking for.

STLSP, no worries, wrong or right on your part, no foul taken, just simple grammar squabbles. Like I said, he has his views, everybody else has their's. If you're trying to stir the pot w/ simplistic grammar/spelling point-outs, let me stop you right there & direct you to the Scripps Spelling Bee, they'll need your help. Like you ain't ever made a typo before. HA!
Draxor, the roids thing has become such an issue in all sports that it is disgusting. Someday those that do them will suffer the long term effects & for what? A short term goal? :) henry

Hank,

Here is a shocker. If Elings had used 100% Private Funds to buy South Park, as a Libertarian I would actually be on your side, wrap that around your head.

They did not, they used CREF Grant Funds.

http://www.countyofsb.org/energy/CREF...

I bet the legal expenses are also coming out of that fund and not the General Fund, so the cost to the Taxpayer is zero.

The County has a Fiduciary Obligation to enforce the Deed Restrictions, you guys are just caught in the middle or being used by Elings as pawns in their grand scheme.

I personally have no problem with a once a year Bikefest, but Elings conduct over the last seven years has made it more that just a one weekend issue.

What are you even talking about? Bikefest ONLY happens on the 1st weekend of June, that's it, finitto, done. The ONLY time they had a 2nd MTB race was sometime back in 2005 or 2006 in August & that was simple to satisfy the CA state series schedule, no other time was that done.
As for the CREF Grant funds, man, the reality is that NOBODY uses 100% private funds for anything anymore, reality check, everything is eligible for a grant.
The county also has an obligation for the betterment of the constituency as a whole, something the mesa contingent is trying to divert the county from doing by the actions taken. Stop beating that legal dead horse to death.
Interesting note here, it seems to me that the only people complaining from the mesa are a select few & from what sources tell me, these are habitual complainers.
NOT EVERYONE ON THE MESA IS THIS WAY! I have plenty of friends there & they say that these folks should just go away.
I don't wish that alternative on anybody, as anyone has the right to live where they may.
However, if you move next to a park, expect to see people having fun @ said park, that's what parks are for :) henry

Well Hank,

It looks like the County has agreed to allow the Bikefest, but the Lawsuit continues. I sure hope you are not the spokesman for your Community. After the Jesusita Fire, caused by members of your Community, I would think a little image reform would be in order but all I hear is entitlement and venom towards the public. Have a nice Fest.

Nice attempt @ a swipe, do I detect sour grapes? I'm not a spokesman, I just play 1 on the SB Indy blogs.
Well, it is time to put all this malarchy behind us, get on w/ our lives & enjoy OUR park & what it has to offer.
It is also time to show the concerned neighbors that we can all work together to make that little enclave a functional recreation spot for all tytpes of athletes & non-athletes alike to enjoy.
Here's an idea: Let's start some nature tours that include the cycling community led by naturalists that know the area well.
This is EVERYONE'S park, a birthright if you will & the benefits of the many are what is/was @ stake here.
Thank you Honorable Judge Anderlee for a just decision based on facts. Regardless of what your decision would've been, it would've had my respect :) henry

By the way, Mr. Pritchett was absolutely dead on correct: Santa Barbara is not for sale :) henry

No mountain biker nor member of the mountain biking community caused any fire in this area. To claim otherwise is slanderous.

Meanwhile, car drivers keep driving the wrong way and killing people on the 101. Car drivers have killed a bunch of bicyclists like the fine young man Jake Boysel, literally knocked out of his shoes by a careless car driver who hit and killed him. The list of bicyclists killed by careless car drivers includes Kendra Payne, Eric Okerblom, and a number of others.

Which is not to say that every car driver is careless and insensitive to killing a few bicyclists. A majority of car drivers don't want to kill cyclists, and some of those even do their best to drive safely. Some of my best friends are car drivers.

But not a single mountain biker wants to create a fire nor has done anything to cause a fire. The recently charges concerning the Jesusita fire were dismissed and were trumped up, a travesty, and if anything buttress the case that our County is willing to spend $100,000's to satisfy anti-bicycling donors.

Hank, Santa Barbara might be for sale, but County politicians and bureaucrats will do anything for the money.

7 dolphins: "Hank, Santa Barbara might be for sale, but County politicians and bureaucrats will do anything for the money."

Brothers & sisters, can I get an Amen? :) henry

Hank: Shouldn't it be "Mr_Pritchett" and not "Mr. Pritchett?"

HAHAHA! :) henry

Hank: is your "amen" reference inspired by brother R.V. Schambach?

Correction: R.W. Schambach.