Keith Berry Wrote:
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> The historic Placerville Branch is under a
> concerted trails attack, this time by way of using
> county DOT/ Transportation Commission planning
> staff to recommend removal of track for a bike
> path. This is contrary to county BOS and JPA
> positions which established the EL Dorado County
> Historical Railroad Park, and has allowed two
> volunteer public benefit groups to offer the
> entire community and visitors. Trails has ample
> space for a paved and a dirt trail without
> disrupting or denying rail based public service
> excursion. Trails simply wants to cut off the 99%
> of community and visitors form the rail corridor,
> establish a personal recreational venue of their
> own, and allow elitist bike advocates to have
> private access directly onto the corridor for
> their own use. this is discrimination by exclusion
> using a means test to access the corridor. IF you
> do not own a bike- no ride, if you do not own a
> horse -no ride, if you cannot jog/walk miles- too
> bad. Since when are public lands treated this way?
> Are parks and pools now segregated in El Dorado
> County with 99% crowded at best into a small area,
> while the elitists are given the public purchased
> lands? PLEASE- assist our community- write a
> letter to all five BOS, demand equal access to the
> rail corridor by supporting the public service El
> DOrado Western and Placerville and Sacramento
> Valley Railroads.Stop the exclusion proposal of
> Friends of the El Dorado Trail,this is
> AMERICA!!Thank YOU

As a railfan who also enjoys rail-trails (both rails-to-trails and rails with trails), let me state that, in general I would never favor conversion of an active railroad to a trail. However, I have no familiarity with the rail line current or proposed excursion trains. It would help if you provided links with information about the rail line and proposed/current excursion trains.

Trails are inanimate objects. They do not have the ability to convert rail lines to other purposes. Instead your post should be referring to the Friends of the El Dorado Trail (and provide a link to the website and/or Facebook page). (Nevertheless, the concept of trails becoming alive and taking over active railroad lines would make for an intriguing movie "The trail that ate the Union Pacific.")

Why should trail users be relegated to using a dirt path adjacent to the railroad? Why not a paved path? Your suggestion is as condescending towards trail users as you perceive bicyclists are towards rail enthusiasts.

Where do you come up with the figure of 99% being cut off from usage of the rail corridor? If you are saying that 99% of the local population is so physically out of shape that it is unable to bicycle or walk a trail, I'd say your county has much greater problems than the prospect of losing a rail line to corridor use. If you want to be taken seriously by those making decisions on this corridor, I would suggest using real facts.

The adjective "elitist" is grossly overused in current political discourse. If I traveled from where I live in the Eastern US to California to ride a tourist railroad, there are many who would call be "elitist" because I have the financial means to travel that far. Conversely, as a regular user of a trail in my community, I see all kinds of people using that trail. A few seem well-to-do, but most appear to be just regular men, women, girls and boys (and quite a few dogs!).

If believe that more people would ride trains on the Placerville line than use it as a trail, be sure to back up your claims with verifiable data.