B
Brent Hugh
Guest
The following message is from Dale Crawford, advocacy chair of the Johnson County (Kansas)
Bicycle Club.
A bill, HB2583, that would have a very bad effect on Kansas trails, including mountain biking trails
and rails-to-trails projects, is working its way through the Kansas legislature. More about the bill
& its negative effects is here:
http://mobikefed.org/2004_02_01_advocacyalertsarchive.html#107775890675108864
The bill could come to a vote as soon as today (27 Feb) or Monday (1 March 2004).
If you know anyone who lives in or near Kansas, please forward this along to them. But I think it
helps a lot to have out-of-state people write, too. Negative national attention is a pretty strong
force . . .
--Brent bhugh [at] mwsc.edu
--begin forwarded message----------------
It is URGENT you contact Kansas legislators TODAY (27 Feb 2004), if at all possible as tomorrow may
be to late. This bill has moved faster than a strong August wind through committee, has been debated
on the House floor and is expected to be voted on today or Monday at the latest. The Farm Bureau and
Kansas Livestock Association are lobbying hard to push it through fast to bring a permanent end to
rail trail development in Kansas.
Below is:
- a link to all Kansas legislators - http://www.kslegislature.org/houseroster/index.html
- a link to find out who your House Representative is if you do not know.
http://www.kslegislature.org/redistricting.html
- A sample letter you can paste into your email. Just fill in your city on the first line.
Please take these few minutes to save the future of rail-trails in KS. My apology if you get more
than one copy of this URGENT email.
Dale Crawford JCBC Advocacy Chair
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Please vote no on House Bill No. 2583, related to recreational trails rail-banked corridors. I am a
voting bicyclists and recreation trail user from YOUR CITY HERE. I support the efforts of not-for-
profit organizations, such as the Kanza Rail Trail Conservancy, Inc., who have the development
rights for the Flint Hills Nature Trail, a 105-mile trail from Osawatomie to Herrington, KS, and the
55-mile Landon Nature Trail, a north from near Pomona north to Topeka. Since September 2001
significant progress has been made by KRTC member volunteers on targeted segments of those two
trails as well as by other organizations on only a few other corridors in Kansas. Hopefully those
efforts can continue, unhampered by the onerous provisions of House Bill No. 2583 and can be
expanded to include other corridors throughout the state. All of these volunteers have not received
compensation and are motivated solely by trying to provide recreational and economic development
benefits through the rural areas for future generations of Kansans.
Our goal is to create something like the KATY trail in Missouri that will benefit all of Kansas, and
particularly the rural areas through which the trail runs that potentially could benefit from the
economic development that follows such developed trails. House Bill No. 2583, if it becomes law,
will have a chilling effect on the development of existing rail-banked corridors, and will deter
future organizations or governmental entities from undertaking the development of additional
recreational trails within Kansas, to the detriment of all Kansans. I am against House Bill No.
2583, and would encourage you to not approve the bill as contrary to public policy of the State of
Kansas. In addition, House Bill No. 2583 is contrary to the public policy of the federal law that
allows rail-banked corridors to be used for interim trail purposes.
Thank you for NO vote on HB 2583.
Bicycle Club.
A bill, HB2583, that would have a very bad effect on Kansas trails, including mountain biking trails
and rails-to-trails projects, is working its way through the Kansas legislature. More about the bill
& its negative effects is here:
http://mobikefed.org/2004_02_01_advocacyalertsarchive.html#107775890675108864
The bill could come to a vote as soon as today (27 Feb) or Monday (1 March 2004).
If you know anyone who lives in or near Kansas, please forward this along to them. But I think it
helps a lot to have out-of-state people write, too. Negative national attention is a pretty strong
force . . .
--Brent bhugh [at] mwsc.edu
--begin forwarded message----------------
It is URGENT you contact Kansas legislators TODAY (27 Feb 2004), if at all possible as tomorrow may
be to late. This bill has moved faster than a strong August wind through committee, has been debated
on the House floor and is expected to be voted on today or Monday at the latest. The Farm Bureau and
Kansas Livestock Association are lobbying hard to push it through fast to bring a permanent end to
rail trail development in Kansas.
Below is:
- a link to all Kansas legislators - http://www.kslegislature.org/houseroster/index.html
- a link to find out who your House Representative is if you do not know.
http://www.kslegislature.org/redistricting.html
- A sample letter you can paste into your email. Just fill in your city on the first line.
Please take these few minutes to save the future of rail-trails in KS. My apology if you get more
than one copy of this URGENT email.
Dale Crawford JCBC Advocacy Chair
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Please vote no on House Bill No. 2583, related to recreational trails rail-banked corridors. I am a
voting bicyclists and recreation trail user from YOUR CITY HERE. I support the efforts of not-for-
profit organizations, such as the Kanza Rail Trail Conservancy, Inc., who have the development
rights for the Flint Hills Nature Trail, a 105-mile trail from Osawatomie to Herrington, KS, and the
55-mile Landon Nature Trail, a north from near Pomona north to Topeka. Since September 2001
significant progress has been made by KRTC member volunteers on targeted segments of those two
trails as well as by other organizations on only a few other corridors in Kansas. Hopefully those
efforts can continue, unhampered by the onerous provisions of House Bill No. 2583 and can be
expanded to include other corridors throughout the state. All of these volunteers have not received
compensation and are motivated solely by trying to provide recreational and economic development
benefits through the rural areas for future generations of Kansans.
Our goal is to create something like the KATY trail in Missouri that will benefit all of Kansas, and
particularly the rural areas through which the trail runs that potentially could benefit from the
economic development that follows such developed trails. House Bill No. 2583, if it becomes law,
will have a chilling effect on the development of existing rail-banked corridors, and will deter
future organizations or governmental entities from undertaking the development of additional
recreational trails within Kansas, to the detriment of all Kansans. I am against House Bill No.
2583, and would encourage you to not approve the bill as contrary to public policy of the State of
Kansas. In addition, House Bill No. 2583 is contrary to the public policy of the federal law that
allows rail-banked corridors to be used for interim trail purposes.
Thank you for NO vote on HB 2583.
