Trails and Open Space Coalition Blog

135 fans of the Incline became Incline Friends at a membership drive sponsored by Phantom Canyon. New members got  a great short sleeve "tech" running shirt with the Incline logo. And there was free beer for first 50 new members. Long sleeve tech running shirts will continue to be available for purchase. Membership donation is $35 annually and will be used to support Incline maintenance efforts.  If you missed out and would like to join - contact the TOSC office.

The goal is to get the Incline safe and legal during 2012.

Supporting the newly formed Incline Friends, assisting with efforts to open the Incline to the public and turning it into the asset it can be are TOSC priorities for 2012.

Colorado Springs City Council voted 6 to 3 to override a mayoral veto concerning tennis court maintenance. City council had approved $175,000 for repairing tennis courts in city parks. Mayor Steve Bach vetoed that budget request calling tennis courts maintenance an "unessential item." Council disagreed and restored the money.

13 of the city's 57 tennis courts are currently unplayable. In years past, the parks department spent between 50,000 and 100,00 annually for tennis court maintenance. That practice ended in 2009 when general revenue to the parks department was drastically cut. (Picture: Thorndale Park)

A portion of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail will close for Colorado Springs Utilities to perform sewer work starting the week of Feb. 20th between Pollk and Monument Valley Park.
Users will be detoured down Polk. The trail is scheduled to re-open the week of March 19th. 

Another segment of the Greenway has reopened from America the Beautiful Park to just north of Bijou Street.  Colorado Springs Parks Dept used  a planned utility project to improve the trail with a new pedestrian/bicycle bridge.
The $110,000 bridge was installed with financial support from the bicycle tax, Conservation Trust Fund and some support from CSU.
As the greenway is considered the  "I-25 of the city's trail system," the parks department was committed to completing the project in a timely fashion to allow commuters and recreational users a safe means of getting in and out of the city near Bijou. 

The Red Rock Master Plan process dubbed Red, White and 16 was suspended last November. The city  decided  to tackle some "side issues" that developed as a result of the process.
The main question - how decisions are made relating to trail construction and trail maintenance that take into consideration all user groups.
The city is committed to a "relationship building process" that will improve communication between Friends Groups/User groups and the city - and better define roles and responsibilities. 
Responding to inquiries, TOSC has asked Parks personnel when those meetings will take place and the Master Plan process resumed. Kurt Schroeder tells us there should be progress  and several public meetings scheduled. The resignation of Acting TOPS Director Sarah Bryarly and a nationwide search for her replacement have delayed the process. A replacement will soon be named.Budget cuts have eliminated many parks positions and the department is stretched very thin. Keeping key projects moving forward has become more difficult. But parks employees assure us - all information/opinions gathered during the Red Rock Master Plan process has been saved and will be used when the process resumes.

Great Parks - Great Communities is NOT asking El Paso County Commissioners to put a .15% sales tax increase on the November ballot. The reason? Lack of support from elected officials - especially Mayor Steve Bach and county commissioners. Without that support the initiative could not go forward. Even though in a recent poll 60%  of county residents said parks are in fair or poor condition and nearly 60% said they would support a small sales tax increase to support parks maintenance. And a whopping 82% supported letting the people decide.

What now? Great Parks - Great Communities will go forward with a new strategy. We will work to increase the 2012 parks maintenance budgets in El Paso County and Colorado Springs. And we will encourage a dialogue between the city and county to promote cooperation between parks departments.

Pencils sharpened? Calendars ready? June 9th is the date and 10:30 is the new time for the moonlight bicycle ride so many of you love. Our Starlight Spectacular is in its 19th year. (Time flies and so do you when you're on a bicycle!) More Good News......there will be pancakes for hungry riders upon their return!
You can register anytime, just go to Starlight Spectacular
Register using Eventbrite, and you save a couple of dollars!
Riders are still welcome to print a copy of the registration form and take it to your favority bike shop or send it in to TOSC. But there will be a "handling charge."
Let's remember back to last year's ride:
The weather was practically perfect, the band great, Boriello Brothers pizza delicious, Whole Foods breakfast phenomenol and the ride - truly unforgettable!
We hope you had as much fun as we did. Thanks to all our fabulous sponsors and volunteers. See you in June!

• Give 2011! officially ended at 11:59 p.m.on Dec. 31st.
  Results:
  TOSC finished with $26,114 dollars from donors, 290 overall donors and 61 young donors.
  By surpassing $20,000 we will receive our entire matching grant on $7500 (Thanks Mountain Chalet!)
  As first in our category in # of donors and # of young donors we will receive an additional $3000. Total benefit for TOSC:  $36,614. Remember, those of you who donated at the $50 level will get a coupon for a free Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Red Rock Bar. Those who donated at the $100 level will get the chocolate bar and a coupon for a bottle of our Incline Wine courtesy D'Vine Wines. Be sure to redeem those coupons! And we wholeheartedly thank John Weiss, Publisher of the  Colorado Springs Independent  and his staff along with a plethora of partners who made this years' Give possible.
  
  
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  Some 30 guided tours of Corral Bluffs were given this year. If you missed out, contact corralbluffs.org and reserve a spot next spring.
Corral Bluffs is located 4 miles east of Powers Blvd. It's an amazing open space and definitely worth seeing. Currently closed to the public,there are plans to expand Corral Bluffs into a regional park. Eventually a public master planning process will determine public access and trails.The Corral Bluffs Alliance is the group offering guided tours of the property.  

Starting Sunday, November 6th - cleanups will begin from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Corral Bluffs Alliance hopes to finish cleaning up an old farmer's dump jost north of the open space. Most heavy items have been removed, but many small items need to be sorted for recycling. Meet at Hoofbeat and Davis Road at 1 p.m. For more information: corralbluffs.org