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The Missing Link |
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by Jan Howell Marx
Have you heard about the “Missing Link” Rotary Railroad Safety Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail Project? Without significant community financial support for this crucial section of the City’s Bike Trail, which links, car-free, Cal Poly to the Downtown, it would take years to be completed. But if we all help, it can happen in the near future. That is why the San Luis Obispo Rotary has chosen the Missing Link to be its first official “Clean & Green” Project.
Rotary will donate $50,000 to the City of San Luis Obispo at the City Council meeting on May 6, 2008, to finance the safety fencing and is spearheading an appeal to raise community funds to support the completion of this section of the Trail simultaneously with the other two sections. “It is exciting for our Rotary Club to be leading a diverse coalition to raise funds for the Railroad Safety Bicycle Trail. We are helping bring our city into the forefront of alternate transportation,” said Rotary President Roxanne Carr.
Two sections of this Class I bike path are already funded (including the freeway bridge) and scheduled for completion in 2008-9: Cal Poly has funded its section to its property line, and the city has secured funding for the section from Foothill Blvd south, over 101 with its own bridge. But, these two sections do not connect. The section from Cal Poly to Foothill is unfunded. This is why the 500-foot part of the trail, parallel to California Blvd and the tracks, from the border of Cal Poly to Foothill Blvd, has been nicknamed the “Missing Link.”
Those in the know agree that this project is worthwhile from many angles. “Completing the Missing Link will reduce traffic congestion on campus and in the city, and will also reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, “ stated Morgan Rafferty, Executive Director of ECOSLO. Adam Fukushima added that “with the cost of gasoline so high, more people are bicycling. This project gives Cal Poly commuters a safe and easy alternative to taking their cars to and from campus.” According to SLO Chief of Police Deborah Linden, “The railroad-approved iron safety fencing will control cross-track access and protect bicyclists and pedestrians from trains at this historically dangerous section of the track.”
The Rotary is building a diverse coalition of other community groups to become sponsors and help us raise money toward completion of this section. So far, besides Rotary, the City of San Luis Obispo, ECOSLO, Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, SLO Chamber of Commerce, Cal Poly Office of the President, Sierra Vista Hospital, Fifth Supervisor Jim Patterson, New Times, City News, HopeDance Magazine, Land Conservancy, SLO Bicycle Club, San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition, Regional Ride Share, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods (RQN), Gaia Graphics, Empower Poly (a coalition of 17 student environmental clubs) Rotaract of Cal Poly, Cal Poly Wheelmen, Air Pollution Control District, and Rotary Club of Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico have agreed to be sponsors. Sponsorships are still being accepted, as well as individual donations.
Your donation is 100% tax deductible. To assist the Rotary Club in raising funds for the Railroad Safety Bike Project, ECOSLO is coordinating donations. To donate, please make out a check to the “RR Safety Bike Trail Project” and mail it c/o ECOSLO, PO Box 1014, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406. For more information, contact Rotary Chair of the RR Safety Bike Trail Project, Jan Howell Marx (805) 541-2716 or janmarx@stanfordalumni.org . For more information or to make an on-line donation, go to http://www.rrtrailfund.org .
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