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IMPORTANT NEWS -- PLEASE READ!

All our efforts are currently being focused on the No on Measure WW campaign.
Please click here to visit www.NoOnMeasureWW.org

We are leaving this site up for historical and archival purposes, and we may return here once the election is over...but don't expect to see anything new here until then. For now, all the action and new updates are over at www.NoOnMeasureWW.org.

Thanks, and we'll see you over there!
-Better East Bay Parks

The EBRPD Wants to Talk to You, on July 29th

The EBRPD has invited the mountain biking community to discuss "issues of mutual interest" on Tuesday July 29, 2008, from 7 PM to 9 PM! This is great news, because it means that your letters are having an effect, and that we are being taken seriously. Thanks to everyone who's written letters so far: click on the flyer for instructions if you haven't written one already.

Meeting place: the Trudeau Center, 11500 Skyline Blvd., Oakland, CA, 94619
Click here for a map -- it's just past JMP on Skyline.

(The "issue of mutual interest" is obvious: they want the $500 million dollars of taxpayer money that a Measure AA extension would give them, and are afraid that we will vote it down unless they placate us somehow.)

Our position remains the same: equal access for people on bicycles. New "trail access procedures" are unacceptable: hikers and horses require no "trail access procedures" to enjoy their own parks. Partial access is unacceptable: we are the second largest group of EBRPD park users, and deserve to be treated as such. Promises of future access are unacceptable: we've had ten years of promises that, like the "Checklist", use up all our time and energy and never actually give us anything.

The EBRPD could take all the "No Bikes" signs down in a day if they really wanted to, and it wouldn't cost them a thing. Then we could spend our energy building and maintaining trails for everyone to use, instead of wasting it in battles with their bureaucracy. Everyone wins!

Please be calm and courteous at this meeting -- but be firm.

Spreading The Word

Big ups to all the Oakland and Alameda bike shops that let us leave stacks of our information flyer for their customers today! None of us are experienced activists, so we don't really know if we're "doing it right"...but judging from the enthusiastic support we got all over town, there is a lot of pent-up resentment over the EBRPD's anti-bicycle bigotry, and a strong desire to do something about it.

The East Bay is big, though, and we need help. If your local bike shop doesn't have the flyers already (which it definitely won't if it's not in Oakland or Alameda), you can help by printing or copying a stack and dropping them off. The printable flyer is available here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are we? We are East Bay voters, taxpayers, and environmentalists. Sometimes we ride bicycles.

What do we want? We want equal access to trails in our parks and open space, and we oppose giving the EBRPD another $500 million in taxes and bonds as long as we are excluded. (This is "Measure WW", and it will be on the November ballot for residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.) If you want the longer explanation, read our flyer.

How can you help us? That's easy!

• Read our flyer. (Note: we're in the middle of an update...pardon our dust.)
• Write a letter to your EBRPD council member. If you haven't done this already, do it now.
• Register to vote if you haven't already.

I've already done that, how can I do more?

• Spread this website to your family, friends, and riding partners, or give them a flyer if they don't like dealing with the Internet.
• Print and make copies of the flyer (double-sided, please, to save paper) and distribute them to local bike shops, cycling clubs, or anyplace else East Bay cyclists and voters congregate.
• Help us make a nicer-looking website, better flyers, and so on. Got pictures of trails damaged by cows, horses, or EBRPD trucks, or fading away into invisibility because they're no longer used? Got more nutty stories of EBRPD mayhem? Are our facts wrong somewhere? Talk to us: info23 ...at... bettereastbayparks ...dot... org

How can I contact you? info23 ...at... bettereastbayparks ...dot... org

Thanks for your attention and support!