Document text
50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, April 7, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 5, 2005 Path backers call for planning The recent rape shows a unified Greenway vision is needed, they say By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Bear Creek Greenway supporters say the recent rape of a 15-year-old girl in the brambles along this popular bike path and trail in Medford makes a long-term management plan all the more necessary. "With the recent incident, the blackberry issue leaps into the foreground," said Jerry MacLeod, chairman of the Bear Creek Greenway Committee, which is working on the plan. He said clearing the abundant blackberry bushes that concealed homeless camps after a Rogue River girl was attacked on March 4 is one part of a long-term plan to manage the Greenway. As the Bear Creek Greenway nears completion, MacLeod, other officials and the public will decide how to manage the 21-mile auto-free corridor that will soon seamlessly connect Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, Medford and Central Point. Five cities and the county now have jurisdiction over the Greenway. Advertisement The management plan will look at the entire stretch to come up with uniform standards for vegetation, public safety, litter removal, vandalism control, fire protection, natural resource protection, parking and sign standards. "Our hope is at some point that it is run by one entity," said Karen Bolda, project coordinator at the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, which is preparing the plan. Public discussion of a management plan will be from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, at Phoenix City Hall, 510 W. First St. The plan, organized by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments beginning last fall, is paid for through a $27,500 grant from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees regional transportation planning for everything from bike lanes to buses. The plan should be done by June 30. About 18 miles of the Greenway has been built, with a section between Phoenix and Talent scheduled to open this summer. Another two-mile section in Medford will be completed by 2007. So far, about $20 million in federal, state and local money has gone into the project. Bolda said RVCOG will hold meetings with police and maintenance crews in the various cities to discuss their efforts along the path. Karen Smith, Greenway coordinator for Jackson County, said it’s important to develop standards of maintenance and find a way to mesh the efforts of local municipalities and work with federal and state agencies that have oversight over the creek and its environs. The Greenway largely follows the path of Bear Creek. "It’s important to have consistency and a clear plan," she said. How to fund the effort will be the subject of discussion, including possibly creating a special district with the ability to float bonds, she said. Other scenarios could include creating an oversight board where individual cities still take responsibility for sections of the Greenway. So far, there is no estimate on what annual maintenance costs would run, and Smith said that would vary depending on how much vegetation residents want to eradicate, how effectively they want the Greenway patrolled and whether they want lighting or other amenities. Whatever option the public wants from the Greenway, Smith said, "It plays a role that Lithia Park plays in Ashland. It links people communities and also wildlife communities." Smith said getting rid of brambles will not solve all crime on the Greenway, noting that some homeless camps are not anywhere near blackberry bushes. "Bad things happen in the community," she said. "The trail did not cause that girl to get raped. Bad things happen even in our own houses." Greenway officials want the public to tell them what they expect out of this public path, and MacLeod said much of what they want might depend on how much taxpayers are willing to spend. "Do they want a Cadillac plan or do they want something bare bones?" the Greenway committee chairman said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Greenway Foundation sets fund-raiser April 16 The Bear Creek Greenway Foundation will host an all-you-can-eat crab feast and auction fund-raiser at 5 p.m. April 16 at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Medford (Riverside Avenue at Sixth Street). The event is being held to make the Greenway "safer and more beautiful," according to a flier posted at bearcreekgreenway.com on the Web, home page for the Greenway’s foundation. More information on donations or on the fund-raiser is available by calling 732-1604. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Fasa Advertisement s