Perry Creek Trail: Dangerous and Confusing: Update

As stated in the previous article I sent the information to the Sioux City officials. Here is the email I sent:

I am writing to you about the dangerous and confusing condition of the Perry Creek Trail.

It has dangerous cracks that are able to catch a bicycle wheel, roller blade wheels and even the foot of a pedestrian. There are drainage and runoff issues under the roadway bridges it passes underneath. It also has one area that is in violation of ADA. There are several areas of the trail that are confusing because of no signage, most especially near the area where the Gospel Mission used to stand. It is a major interchange section of the trail yet it is very unclear as to where each branch of the trail leads to.

I published a blog article on this on my bicycle advocacy and safety blog. It includes photos of each section that needs repair, signage and improvement. Here is the link:
Perry Creek Trail: Dangerous and Confusing

Please read it entirely. Any questions please feel free to contact me. I do have one question for the city about this. When will the problems with this trail be corrected, repaired and improved? If it is a matter of money I encourage you to contact the Siouxland Trails Foundation about a donation and I also read in the journal recently about the deadline for REAP grants. the REAP grant money does not have to be matched. Will the city apply for the money?

Sincerely,

John Vodochodsky

City Manager, Paul Eckert responded with this:

 Greetings John,

Short answer is that we will resolve the problems immediately.   Public Works Director Jade Dundas will work with the various staff involved to get you the more detailed description of the problems you described and the respective solutions.  We would benefit from your perspective on the descriptions and solutions as well.  In the meantime, Parks Supervisor Kelly Bach will be on site this morning.

 

We appreciate you sharing the information and your strong ownership and advocacy.  It makes a difference.  We are also happy to meet you on any of the various sites as well.  My phone number is 279-6102.  We have, and continue to, make a tremendous investment in this trail.  It's a source of great community pride and we all want to maintain it to the highest possible standards, even during construction and weather related challenges.

 

Thanks,

Paul

I replied back with:

 Paul,

Thank you for the response and for ensuring the city will take action to resolve the problems with this trail.The city does have some great trails for its residents and visitors to use. But Perry Creek is one of the most useful because it connections entire neighborhoods and sections of the city together like no other trail currently can as it has multiple access points.A person can take the trail from the north side, west side or any other point along the trail and exit downtown, head on downtown streets to the transportation center get on the bus and have access to virtually any other part of the city. This is what singles out the Perry Creek Trail from all others.

I will be riding on the trail in a very short while here this morning/early afternoon. Today is one of my days off from work and I have some errands to run, including some business at City Hall.

Part of the resolution will no doubt, at some point involve the availability of money. As a city tax payer I like to see my tax dollars spent effectively and logically and do not mind if tax dollars are spent on trail repair and improvement. I use the trails after all so I expect it. That said I understand if the city may not have enough to conduct all that is needed on the trail and if the more critical repairs are done first, the cracks, drainage problems, etc. As such can you advise about the possibility of using REAP money, if the city can apply for a grant? The article in the journal was not really clear as to who can use the money, but did allude to it only being available for county's, not city's or towns.

John

 This tells me the city is doing something about this very soon.

I have also been contacted by the Sioux City Journal about a reporter who is supposed to call me for a story on this and one of the TV news stations as well.