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BMORC meets the people!


Kingy's picture

By Kingy - Posted on 30 October 2010

Following on from my most recent post regarding the BMORC meeting, I took the opportunity today to door knock Barnett St adjacent to the knapsack Reserve and meet the residents and introduce myself and give the people an overview of our intentions with repsect to the Knapsack project.
Obviously with very busy schedules catching people at home was going to be a hit and miss afair but i was pleasently surprised to see that of the 12 houses I door knocked I was able to meet 8 of the residents.
I can also report that I did not receive one objection to the plan and infact received an emphatic level of support with comments reflecting the thoughts that it was a positive thing for the area.
The residents highlighted the benefit of having increased activity in the area being a posiitive for deterring other non legitimate users in the area who might seek to dump or ride motor bikes or consume liquor or illegal drugs near the look outs.
A huge problem in the past from what i was told that has only been recified since the installation of the gates and wire rope fence and boulders at old points of access.
Jeff a long time resident of the area who told me about the 1994 fires and the effect it had on the area remarked that more bikes and walkers would mean less motor bikes and i assured him that we are going to police the area and be vigilant reporting anythig that we see that is not right with respect to illegal vehicle access straight to the police.
So over all a really great response from the local residents demonstrating full support for the project, and who were very pleased that we should care enough to come and meet them and allow them a chance to have a say.
So thats the latest from Knapsack!

Andy Bloot's picture

That's using your initiative, Kingy

Nice work to everyone involved in the knapsack proposal
Spoke to Mog this morning and it all sounds very positive

I can foresee 2 big problems in the future though
Deciding which trails to ride and dig at
And finding the time to do both as often as possible

BM Epic's picture

great work Paul, that is awesome, people remember these sorts of things too, getting a say in things is what people want, and we have to be big enough to listen to them whether they are for or against us, it garners lots of respect!

Kingy's picture

Refreshingly all the people I spoke to and there were a lot, were fully supportive of our efforts and highlighted the positivity that having desirable people like cyclist, walkers and the like in the area as opposed to the undesirable element that frequented the area prior to the closure of the main access roads out to the look outs.
The people were fantastic to talk too with the insightful assessment of the project giving me a much needed boost to my morale after hearing of potential oposition to the project, it appears that my source may well have been trying to plant the seed of doubt, but this was quickly extinguished by the fervor with which the local people accepted the idea of the mountain bike trails.

moggio's picture

All I can say Kingy is what a legend you were today!

Its all encouraging news. Makes me wonder how many negative attitudes are out there and what are they based on... I guess misconceptions of what we are trying to do.

Nerf Herder's picture

good thinking Kingy, some positive testimonies would be good to highlight to Councillors.

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