Writing letters to politicians and newspapers

Very true point.

We saw the problem with our lobbying up in the mountains. Anything the same or of a form letter style was pretty much dismissed. It seems the best is lots of short responses supporting the proposal with maybe one personal reason why.

The a few serious letters as well that actually outline the facts. I usually tried to approach from a different perspective just to make things a little different and also did them as a letter rather than an email (yeah old school with address and all)

The other thing that is the worst style was outrage and any insulting nature. Our opposition started getting irate as they seemed to be losing the battle and started getting irate and bitter in their letters. This never works well with a councillor. You really need to be polite and respectful at all times.

A councilor once told me that when they get a bunch of letters/emails on the same subject if the first paragraph is the same as the letter before they just assume the rest is copy and pasted and put it on the read pile.

The tip therefore is to rewrite the letter that inspired you in your own words, starting with some personal view point.

http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/...

MOUNTAIN bike riders have hit back at claims that building new trails in Garigal National Park would damage the bushland and Aboriginal sites.

Comments have flooded in after a Manly Daily article featured Forestville resident Rosemary Loughnane’s concerns that a new trail would damage bushland and was insensitive to the area’s Aboriginal heritage. Read the story and comments

She collected the signatures of more than 540 people on a petition against the proposal.

Have your say on the issue by commenting below.

But Dee Why’s Simon Kean, president of TrailCare, said her comments were “misinformed, emotive and inflammatory”.

“If managed properly and with a proper trail design, erosion will not be an issue,” Mr Kean said.

“The track will actually resolve some issues such as the commuter route that runs over Aboriginal carvings.”

Mr Kean is part of an advisory committee consulting with the state government on the possible 10km trail. Three options are being considered.

He said bike user group numbers were on par with walkers but they only had 1 per cent of the available area to ride, compared with the number of official routes for bushwalkers.

The only authorised single bike track in the Warringah area is at Manly Dam and Mr Kean said reports of conflicts between walkers and bike riders were exaggerated.

“There are about 100,000 riders a year who use Manly Dam and there has been maybe one reported incident.”

He said the development of the trail was not intended to attract bike races but any proposed events would go through the proper process.

There were also no studies to suggest that night riding would disrupt nocturnal animals.

“The government is going through the review of environmental factors so we are going through due process,” he said.

Nice looking article. Looks like Rosemary has already had a go though! She's already posted a comment, and by the looks of her comment she doesn't understand the difference between Freeriding & XC. Fair enough though, as most people don't know the nuances of the differing styles of MTB.

Am about to post a reply to hers, I suggest people who read it comment as well.

Agreed, Rosemary is only as big as her opposition makes her. If she is ignored she is just a noisy person yelling in a vacuum.

Hawkeye's reply is enough.

It also raises the really good point that really pisses me off that the sustainability of walking tracks is always ignored because of the plain and simple bigotry against mountain bikes. Walkers are somehow sanctified.

It's a good idea not to address the agitator directly at all.
In a twisted way it only gives false credit by keeping the agitators name in print.

If the agitator was standing for a good honest cause it would make sense but that person is being extremely dishonest.
The agitator is trying to inflame peaceful relations between friendly, co-operative groups such as mountain bikers, indigenous people (and walkers) by misrepresenting the truth.

That type of behaviour is the lowest of the low.

It's sad that a grown person will act like that and seek to ruin good relations between others simply because it suits their selfish ends in getting their own petty way.

People like that often get-off on seeing their name in print. Again, good idea not to address the agitator directly at all.

Best to redirect the focus and simply to speak positively about your real life enjoyment of mountainbiking, mentioning those things we love about it such as: "safe, sustainable, family focused, healthy, quiet, inclusive etc"
Represent yourself truthfully as a, "nature loving, courteous, caring, honest, money spending" enthusiast of the positive pastime of mountain biking.

The agitator is totally off the mark trying to label professionals, doctors, lawyers, business owners, whole families etc as some band of uncaring "extreme sport hoons". This will be obvious to the officials and the press if we stick together and tell our positive story.
But do go and have your say in cool clean, positive language. Representing the majority of the community.

Oh, and now is the best time to join Trailcare as a payed member... $10 is nothing if it helps ensure continued access to the trails you love.
Do it before the weekend finishes... Do it now!
http://www.trailcare.com.au/paid-members

(I have no connection to Trailcare other than being a paid member and supporting their efforts to maintain riding trail access).

However we need more members, heaps to do and not enough people. Membership is a bit over 100.

We are now at an exciting time and have the ear of all three Councils and all Land Managers at Red Hill and Oxy! The TrailCare brand is self explanatory and is now well known by government and builds from all the earlier work we did through NobMob and via clubs.

The single biggest constraint now holding back formal trails including gravity and DJ is us riders. Not enough hours in the day.

Our intention is to provide the contacts in the community, local and state government and also professional guidance to help everyone help themselves in a coordinated effort.

Among other things we also need help in promoting TrailCare, it's a balancing act of driving membership vs. a few fire fights and longer term planning and route options assessments, networking etc...

Please join up and drop me an email [email protected] with ideas or if you are eager to help

How do we get more involved? I'm sure there many of us willing to put some hours in but we don't know how.

All

I'm noticing a few comments that are not constructive to the overall riding cause.

Whatever discipline we are all in this together.

When I started this 4 years ago I rode 80% DH or FR. So did a very large proportion of other contributers.

Many may also be surprised to know that the document that has opened the door for discussion with all land managers at RH and Oxy for all disciplines was written by TrailCares freeriders and dirt jumpers.

We knew full well we were unlikely to get DH in NP's, which is what many of us rode, but knew that by swinging NPWS as far as we could everyone would benefit when we consider the doors this policy change opens up on less sensitive land tenures.

FR/DH and DJ is also aJt the cutting edge in terms of challenging the state of art sustainable track design and construction. The FR and DJ lawyers are also working hard to resolve risk and liability concerns. What these guys are doing benefits us all so please remain united.