BIKE TRAIL AMENITIES BEFORE BUS SHELTERS~REALLY???

 

West Brownsville residents got a rare glimpse at participatory democracy Thursday when given the opportunity to recommend niceties for the West Rail Hike and Bike Trail in what was dubbed the West Rail Trail Amenities Project.

The event was sort of co-sponsored by the City of Brownsville and Brownsville Metro.

The city was represented by City Commissioners Roy de los Santos and Rose Gowen, regarded as the mother hen and leading advocate of bike trails in the city.

Juan Pena, Jr.

Young Juan Pena, Jr., Project Manager for Brownsville Metro, guided attendees to three tables with detailed maps of the trail, encouraging the residents to use color coded circles to represent which amenities they wanted and where on the trail they wanted them.

Do you want benches for seating or perhaps automobile parking along your portion of the trail?

What about lighting or even a bicycle repair station or perhaps a juice bar featuring freshly squeezed citrus products from local growers?

I'm not anti-bike trail.  I'm actually happy the city has trails and that downtown is actually connected to the 77 Flea Market by trail.

The bike trails are used on a limited basis.  Although Ana and I live along the West Rail Trail, I couldn't bring myself to suggest the city spend tax dollars on an amenity, not when just two days ago I saw two elderly women standing in the hot sun waiting for a Brownsville Metro bus.

Commissioners De los Santos and Gowen, along with Brownsville Metro's Pena, should put their heads together and come up with a concrete plan for bus shelters or at least put into service the shelters Brownsville Metro has had in storage for years.

Fellow blogger Juan Montoya has been preaching on this issue for over a decade.