You are hereForums / Archives / Action I've Taken / Manly Daily reporter meeting

Manly Daily reporter meeting


nrthrnben's picture

By nrthrnben - Posted on 11 August 2009

Went down today at 2pm, ended up just being the photo side of the reporting for a new article in the MD, was about 15 mtb riders there for the photo,he took about 100 shots so should be an allright photo when the article goes to print,asked him to contact robin for any questions,and he said that he has.

cant wait for the article...front page?

Rob's picture

You mean this Eye-wink

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

What is interesting though is the article doesn't mention the motion Councillor Griffin moved. This can be seen here (page 6):

http://www.manly.nsw.gov.au/IgnitionSuite/upload...

It is requested that SHOROC:
1. Acknowledge that mountain biking is a legitimate sport and requires Government support to facilitate the provision of infrastructure and regulation for the sport.
2. Through consultation with land owners identify appropriate areas or an area for the establishment of infrastructure for the sport of Mountain Biking on the Northern Beaches.
3. Support the NP&WS in their efforts to maintain the integrity of the existing National Parks.
4. Engage with the State Government to establish a mechanism to fund and manage the development of sustainable tracks and trails for the sport of mountain biking in appropriate areas and then fund the ongoing maintenance of the areas.

And none of these points are particularly bad. Point 3 is a red herring as Mountain Bike riding, when carried out on properly designed and maintained trails can be completely compatible with "the integrity of the existing National Parks".

Of course what else isn't stated is that the majority of land available for recreation in the area is managed by NSW National Parks, so if Councillor Griffin got her way riders would be effectively shut out of most local lands. Just to illistrate the point, the red areas here are National Parks. The only undeveloped areas of note are Manly Dam and Red Hill:

Northern Beaches National Parks (April 2009)

NB: SHOROC "is a cooperative group of councils on Sydney’s Northern Beaches representing Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah" - http://www.shoroc.nsw.gov.au/

OzMoT's picture

I tried to post a retort to Miss Griffin about removing her mellon from her backside, where it had obviously been stuck for some time...also asking if her plan was to banish joggers to gym's nex because of pong pollution

mOt
Who has visions of a grumpy old hunch backed poodle walker.

Harry's picture

tried to post a comment - no luck

nrthrnben's picture

Yeah that’s the one:)

Replied to that article respectfully

we should not stand for one minute for them saying lets give them access to areas of land but as rob said “not NP’s”
anyway this seams to be just the greens councilor’s opinion.

this following extract is on page 4 of this link:
http://www.manly.nsw.gov.au/IgnitionSuite/upload...

"MTBA has a stated policy on mountain bike access to natural areas policy and gives the MTBA’s position on environmental and land access issues with regard to off-road cycling in natural spaces, with particular reference to protected areas such as reserves, state forests, national parks, urban forests and wilderness areas. (on reading this document is sounds nice but in reality is completely impractical)"

the last sentence has no basis and is purely the writers opinion, this needs to be addressed as the opposite is true

p.s keep posting comments on the manly daily site they should come online over the next few days if they are approved under their guidelines

Fankles's picture

Could somebody with the appropriate "technical" know how send this where it should go ....
It would not load into the comments section of the Manly Daily, and may be serve some place better still...

Cheers.

Sadly Ms Griffin is well off the mark, and has little to no evidence to support her prejudices. The predominant user groups are men and women 25/55yrs of age with the average probably falling into the 30/40 bracket. Generation "Y" exclusively I think not. Ms Griffin has a voice but sadly it's misinformed. Ms Griffin rides her bike everywhere if I am correct so why such strong prejudices exist I do not know. A potential benefit would be to maybe expand ones sphere of understanding? Just a thought...
The rest of the state, country and the world's mountain biking community's look on our local situation as laughable by comparison. We need to take our blinkers off...
We are missing a great opportunity for improved health, recreation and the opportunity to add value to our local environments perceived worth within the community. We do this through exposure to it. If you don't experience something yourself then generally an individual will have little value/need to preserve it. With this I mean refer to our local bushland obviously.
Unrealistic rules and regulation that is not current with today’s needs will see people will continue to do as what they see fair, fit and reasonable. Best we move with the times and with these people. Let’s encourage and manage this healthy momentum, the right way.
Councillor Griffin, why fight something when it serves no purpose other than satisfying your own need to routinely seek out conflict? I challenge you to put your ego aside and remain open to possibility. True respect comes from this .....
I will be watching this space to see if true wisdom manifests within you.

Brad P

Dicko's picture

We should also not forget the economic benefits our sport provides to the local economy. With the world cup in Canberra just around the corner we should take advantage of the increased publicity, visibility of our sport including how popular the sport has become across a wide demographic of consumers.

The economic benefits the world cup alone has on canberra and the sport in general is significant. It would be great for advocate groups if there was a wAy we could collect the data / stats from the world cup - maybe from the organizers and use these FACTS in our lobbying with the various authorities.

Thoughts ....

LadyToast's picture

Brad, I tried posting your comment but your text was over the 1200 permitted characters. You should be able to post again now though, it looks like it's working.

Matt_B's picture

I agree with Dicko re the economic benefits.

Huw Kingston did a survey post the Highland Fling last year re the economic benefits flowing from that event, has anyone seen the results of that survey?

The growth of MTB over the past few years is outstripping any planning considerations, who would have said Manly Dam would have had the pressures on it that it is now getting, up at Ourimbah the other Sunday and the carpark was full and recycling a few times over the few hours we were there, Highland Fling selling out in 4 or 5 hours, Angry Doctor in a few days.

There is clearly something going on with this sport, it is healthy, should be considerate of the environment with well built trails.

How do we go with one voice, with a plan to get a true network of Sydney trails. It seems in Sydney access to National Parks is key, but then we become akin to the wishes of the shooters party. Perhaps we really do need to continue to lobby the Libs as likely next Government and the two northern beaches MPs (Stokes and Baird) may be amenable.

It would be a really far sighted move to get this in place, especially with an economic case and the so called 'green jobs' initiatives of the Fed govt (if its not just spin)

nrthrnben's picture

I fully agree with Mike Baird and Robin, mountain biking should be opened up to the public in National parks in a sustainable way.

The only reason some riders may be riding where they are told not to is because there is nowhere else to ride, and with mountain biking being a legitimate recreational pursuit there should be numerous areas to ride in all disciplines.

Look at Thredbo or even Parks Victoria’s example of working with mountain bikers and allowing purpose built sustainable trails to be blended into the natural terrain within national parks

Mountain bikers are happy with trails even smaller than walking trails, and it has been scientifically proven that mountain biking has no more effect on erosion then walking.

We encourage those that don’t appreciate that mountain bikers can be included in national parks in a sustainable way to look up sustainable trail design and management at:

http://www.imba.com/resources/bike_management/in...

Matt_B's picture

I think the key is sustainable management

By what forum or method would trails be managed by mountain bikers?

Whilst there are some examples and good ones most of the MTB community use trails as a common good and take a free ride.

There is no plan whereby the sales of bikes contribute to a trail fund, or users contribute to the upkeep of Manly Dam other than by ratepayers, or even a lock box at the trail head taking donations.

The degradation of Oxford Falls and Red Hill are cases in point (despite the protestations against motocrossers) - i think we actually want the government to build our trails for us. This makes little sense (by this i mean that waiting for the Govt or someone else to do something about it, it must be within our control......somehow).

Flynny's picture

How'd you get around the character limit

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Best Mountain Bike