Information courtesy of community organizer Debbie Poole:
The WSSC is still planning to officially close their riding trail for 3 1/2 months (Dec 1 – March 14).
The WSSC conducted a quarter million dollar study by EA Engineering said the trails were fine (after 50 plus years of year-round riding, with the riders judging when it is prudent) and WSSC’s 2011 claim that winter has the most rainfall has been resoundingly discredited by both NOAA as well as WSSC’s own data. The winter closing really makes no sense. It is even more senseless when one considers that the WSSC now has the flexibility to close the trails on any wet day, via their new 4-FUN “hotline.”
We have been advised that our best chance to get this pointless rule changed — to return to year-round riding, as it had been for all the previous decades — is through the Commissioners. A few of us are planning on going to the Commissioners’ meeting this Wednesday, October 16, to ask to return to allowing winter riding (and to congratulate them on how well the other aspects of the trail have been going).
The more of us that are there, the bigger effect it will make on the Commissioners. Please, if you can arrange to come by the WSSC building (Sweitzer Lane, Laurel) this Wednesday morning, October 16 (supposedly 8:30 AM, but in practice, 9 AM should be OK too), to participate in the Commissioners’ meeting, it would be super! The dry winter days are some of the nicest times for riding, and your help can be critical to get the trails re-opened in the winter.
