ALERT: St Louis County Councilman threatening to kill key trail connection - Your voice could help
UPDATE 16 February 2017: Success! Great Rivers Greenway and County Councilman Ernie Trakas continued discussions about the trail--spurred on by the many messages and phone calls St Louis County officials received in support of it.
A St. Louis County Council member is holding up an important new trail connection in St. Louis County. If you live, work, or visit St. Louis County, spending a few minutes contacting your County Council representative could save this important trail link.
Details about contacting your St. Louis County Council member are below.
A recent article in The Call summarizes the situation:
A new paved trail proposed for Cliff Cave Park is on hold due to objections from neighbors that the trail expansion could accelerate the county park's existing safety issues.
Great Rivers Greenway hopes to build a 2-mile paved loop, similar to Grant's Trail, in Oakville. The path would wind up and down the bluffs from a trailhead on Cliff Cave Road and end at a pedestrian-only en-trance at Telegraph and Erb roads.
But legislation allowing the greenway district to use county land for the project has been delayed by 6th District County Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, since he took office last month.
After holding his first constituent meeting last week to hear residents' concerns about the trail expansion, Trakas said he will decide this week whether to advance the legislation.
At a Jan. 26 meeting at the Pavilion at Lemay attended by roughly 50 residents, Trakas gave no indication of whether he supports the project or not, but said he was interested in hearing from the neighbors.
"They wanted to introduce it, I said no dice, I wanted to hear from you," Trakas told attendees. "I have to move it, and that hasn't happened. It may not happen."
What's at risk: A Key Trail Connection, Mississippi River Overlook, Years in Development
The planned trail has been in planning and development for several years. Plans have been discussed and refined in many meetings with public officials and citizens in the area.
That is one reason it is especially disappointing to have one new County Council representative--who apparently has not taken the time to be a part of this public process that has played out over the past few years--listen solely to a small group of trail opponents, and hold up the entire project at the last minute. It is especially frustrating because we know that support for trails and trail connection runs wide and deep in St. Louis County.
So this is a situation where your voice could make a big difference.
The Cliff Cave Trail is a key part of the Mississippi Greenway Master Plan, which envisions a complete, connected trail system up and down the Mississippi River through St. Louis City and County. The trail is also a key element of the plan to connect area neighborhoods to this major trail system. The trail itself will take trail users over major barriers and connect them with an amazing overlook of the Mississippi River.
See a map showing the location of Cliff Cave Park here, and the County's Cliff Cave Park Trails here. Great Rivers Greenways' Cliff Cave Park page shows a map of the area and trail overview.
The "Future Connections" section of the Mississippi Greenway Master Plan page has details about the Cliff Cave Park Trail project, which is "a new greenway (paved, ADA accessible) that will connect existing trail within Cliff Cave Park up the bluff to the scenic overlook, and a neighborhood spur out to Telegraph Road."
Suggested message in support of the Cliff Cave Park Trail
- Be polite and persuasive when you contact your elected officials--this is by far the most effective approach.
- A short message is as effective or more effective than a long one.
- Include your connection to the County (live, work, visit, vacation, etc) , especially if you live work, or visit St. Louis County District 6, Ernie Trakas's district in SE St. Louis County.
- Prominently include a sentence indicating you strongly support the Cliff Cave Park Trail and hope the County Council will move forward with it quickly. If emailing, include "Support Cliff Cave Park Trail" or similar in your subject line.
- Include a sentence or two, or a quick story, showing why trails, bicycling, and walking are important to your personally, to your community, and/or to St. Louis County.
Your message is about Cliff Cave Park specifically, but is also a valuable opportunity to raise the profile and importance of trails, bicycling, and walking with the St. Louis County Council.
County Council members need to know that the County has many strong supporters of the bicycle, pedestrian, and trail system in the County.
We are working closely with our local partners, members, and affected agencies on this effort, including Trailnet, the regional St. Louis area advocacy group that works the create positive change in the St. Louis bi-state region by encouraging healthy, active living and that founded the region's trail system in the 1990s. Look for more information coming soon from both us and our local and regional partners on this important issue.
Contact Information for St. Louis County Council
If you live in the County, contact your own County Council representative and also cc: Mr. Trakas, who is the key decision-maker on this issue.
If you don't live in the County or have a connection to a particular Council District, you might email Mr. Trakas and cc: Steven Stenger, St. Louis County Executive.
Phone calls are very helpful. And email message is also helpful, and both phone and email followup is best of all. A posted letter or fax is also very effective, simply because constuents more rarely take the time to send a 'real' letter and that makes each one more impactful.
Map of St. Louis County Council Districts.
St. Louis County Council District 1 - Hazel Erby (D)
HErby@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-5436 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Ferguson, Jennings, Vonita Terrace, etc.St. Louis County Council District 2 - Dr. Sam Page
SPage@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-5437 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Hazelwood, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, etc.St. Louis County Council District 3 - Colleen Wasinger (R)
CWasinger@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-5438 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Sunset Hills, Town & Country, Valley Park, etcSt. Louis County Council District 4 - Rochelle Walton Gray (D)
rgray@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-0393 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Bellefontaine Neighbors, Florissant, Black Jack, etcSt. Louis County Council District 5 - Pat Dolan (D)
PDolan@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-5441 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Ladue, Shrewsbury, Clayton, etc.
Councilman Dolan was sponsor and a major supporter of St. Louis County's Complete Streets initiative. You might thank him for his prior support of walking and bicycling in the County.St. Louis County Council District 6 - Ernie Trakas (R)
ETrakas@stlouisco.com - 314-615-5442
Executive Assistant: Carmen Wilkerson
Phone: 314-615-0159
E-mail: cwilkerson@stlouisco.com
Lakeshire, Green Park, South County, etc
You might cc: Carmen Wilkerson on any email message you send to Councilman Trakas. We understand that Councilman Trakas's voice mail has been full; again you might call and speak with (or leave a message with) his assistant instead.- St. Louis County Council District 7 - Mark Harder (R)
mharder@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-5443 and Fax: (314) 615-7890
Wildwood, Ballwin, Chesterfield, Eureka, etc St. Louis County Executive Steven Stenger
sstenger@stlouisco.com - (314) 615-7016
County Executive - Entire County
Working to create and support a complete, connected, world-class statewide bicycle, pedestrian and trails system is one of the primary goals in MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri. Project like the Cliff Cave Trail and the Mississippi Greenway are important connections in that statewide vision.
Your ongoing membership and generous financial support helps turn our Vision in to reality!
Photo credits:
- Cliff Cave Trail map - Great Rivers Greenway & St. Louis County Parks, 2016 Cliff Cave Public Presentation
- Cliff Cave Mississippi River Overlook Visualization - Great Rivers Greenway & St. Louis County Parks, Oct 2016 Cliff Cave Public Meeting Materials
- St. Louis County Councilman Ernie Trakas
- Cliff Cave Park - Dave Clark on FlickR
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