Fw: Revised Lawndale/Schultz construction schedule

[carol a barnes <cbarnes99@juno.com>]

Just wanted to let everyone know there is hope in dealing with the
California Parks.  Many of you are aware of the problems over the past
couple years with the new (beautiful I must add) trails at Annadel and
with closures, etc.  There has been a group (and very much in front of
that group Georgette Victor) marshalling the events and working with the
parks.  Recently the park renigged on keeping certain trails open during
construction.  The letter following briefly explains what came to be. 
Congratulations to these hard working people.
 
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Georgette Victor <georgette@litrisk.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 19:29:18 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Revised Lawndale/Schultz construction schedule
Message-ID: <AAA7QWAG8AVY7FY2@mx2.jersey.juno.com>

The following letter from my husband to George Lauer (the Press Democrat
reporter) should bring you up to date on the Lawndale/Schultz trails
situation.  G.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Marc Victor 
To: glauer@pressdemocrat.com 
Subject: Revised Lawndale/Schultz construction schedule


George,

As I told you Friday, I received a phone call on Thursday (4/19/01) from
Dave Nelson, the relatively new Superintendent of the Silverado District
of
the California Department of Parks and Recreation (the district
responsible
for Annadel).  Even though he was still on vacation, he realized the
importance of the issues that were the subject of your story on 4/17/01
and
the paper's editorial on 4/18/01, and he spent several hours discussing
these issues with me.  It quickly became clear to me -- and to him --
that
he had not appreciated the "non-closure" promises that had been made by
other District officials prior to his appointment.  As you can imagine,
that
explained a lot for both of us.  He pledged to arrange a meeting early
this
week with members of the Annadel Public Survey Committee, and to try to
find
another workplan for the Lawndale and Schultz Trails renovations.

That meeting was held on Monday (4/23/01) afternoon, from 3 pm to almost
5
pm.  In attendance were many of his staff (6 in total besides himself),
four
of the six public members of the aforementioned Committee, the Executive
Director of the Sonoma County Horse Council, two affected residents from
the
Lawndale/Schultz areas, and myself.  He began by saying that internal
communications problems had played a role in creating the current
situation,
and that he and his staff would work hard to eliminate those in the
future.
He then presented a revised construction schedule for Lawndale and
Schultz
Trails, one that balanced -- as best as he felt he could -- the workplan
he
would have preferred with the promises that had previously been made by
others.

Thus, instead of Lawndale Trail being closed continuously from May 1st
and
Schultz Trail continuously from June 1st (in each case, until the fall
for
hikers and until next spring for bicyclists and equestrians), the revised
plan is APPROXIMATELY as follows (changes are possible due to unforeseen
circumstances, from such things as contractor delays due to equipment
failure or weather conditions):

--------------
Lawndale
--------------
MAY       Old and New Lawndale Closed
JUNE      Re-open Old Lawndale until July 1st when equipment finished on
Schultz
JULY      Old and New Lawndale Closed
AUG.      Old and New Lawndale Closed
SEPT.     Re-open New Lawndale until winter; Old Lawndale Closed

--------------
Schultz
--------------
MAY       Old Schultz Open; New Schultz Closed
JUNE      Old and New Schultz Closed
JULY      Old and New Schultz Closed
AUG.      Re-open New Schultz until winter; Old Schultz Closed
SEPT.     New Schultz Open until winter; Old Schultz Closed

Although we know that many people would prefer to have the old trails
remain
open until the new trails are available to all users next year, this was
not
offered as an option.  We were, however, thankful that at least the new
superintendent -- once fully aware of the prior promises -- was able to
come
up with a compromise.

Superintendent Nelson also led a discussion of steps that could be taken
to
inform the public of these revisions.  We all hope, of course, that the
Press Democrat will publicize these as quickly and prominently as
possible.
There will also be an answering machine connected to 707-539-3911, with a
message (revised nightly, as needed) informing callers of the current
status
of both trails.  Signs will be posted at park entrances alerting visitors
to
the same.  However, the District will no longer directly mail notices to
those in attendance at the June 1999 meeting.

Finally, Dave Nelson made it very clear that if anyone has any major
issues
regarding any of the parks in his district, he wants to be contacted
directly.

I encourage you to speak with Dave yourself, and confirm all of the
above.
Based on my phone conversation with him last week and on Monday's
meeting, I
am hopeful that he will try hard to be responsive to public input. 

Sincerely,
Marc Victor
________________________________________________________________
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