OHV park in the works for 5 years in Bako gets axed by bueauocraps

[Richard Cheese]

BAKERSFIELD - Three years and some $2 million later, an off-highway vehicle park north of Bakersfield is dead as of Tuesday.

Backers of the project confirmed Tuesday State Recreation officials killed plans for the OHV Park saying a long list of problems with the chosen sit are insurmountable.

Among those problems are soil-laden with Valley Fever spores and no access to the site from current roads.

The man who spearheaded the project is not happy.

“Sure it’s a setback, but I have a plaque on my wall in the office that says …I think it was Albert Einstein who said, ‘In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.’ I’m struggling right now to find the positives and the opportunity in this, but we’re going to look hard at it,” said President of the Kern County OHV Association, d*ck Taylor.

The project was strongly supported by local off-roaders who number some 23,000 in Kern County.

here is a letter written to the local newspaper regarding the incident, which I think hits the nail on the head

The failure of the Bakersfield OHV is a direct example of the minority dictating to the majority.

Look at the facts.

-Valley Fever has been in the central valley before humans. If it was a major health threat the State would have funded a cure/vaccine years ago.

-Erosion is a common problem all over the earth! It happens 24/7 with or without the human factor.

-No water for dust control, drill a well just like every other rancher/farmer has done for a hundred years to water their livestock.

-No right of way for a road to the park, what bunk. The new freeway that will connect HWY58/99 to I-5 is going to happen no mater how much private property must be purchased to make it happen.

The real truth is that the State Parks and Recs found out that this project was going to cost a lot of money,( our green sticker/gas tax money) and take a lot of work, a word State employees do not like to use.

The other truth is that the environmentalists threatened the State with a lawsuit, this is their usual tactic when they do not get what they want from their "bought and paid for" State officials.

Am I wrong?

Look at the West Mojave Plan, years of planning, public meetings and earlier this summer when it came time to implement the Eco's did not like it and filed a lawsuit against the BLM!

We the off-road community number in the thousands, we need to take back the State from the Eco-terrorists that are constant in their pressure on our elected and State officials.

The Off-Highway Vehicle Commission and the State OHV Parks belongs to US, not the Eco-terrorists, they have no business being on the commission or subjugating OHV Parks and Rec to their twisted will.

So, get mad, be politically incorrect, demand your OHV park, start applying pressure to your State officials, Governor and elected representatives or we will lose all of our riding rights.

______________________________________________

note- When the housing market began to boom here in Bako, an OHV site east of the city, that dated back to the 1910's, became a battleground between the off-road community, and developers, who had the Sierra Club weigh in on their side.

The two groups came to an understanding that if the OHV was signed off for development, the city would help re-locate to another OHV park.

Then it ends up getting exnayed by the state

Effin Ca

Edited December 29, 2006 by RICHARDCHEESE

[raptorgirl]

Yeah this really sucked!! We went to the first meeting and were surprised to see so many supporters there and very surprised to see not very many non-supporters (but the ones that were there had thier opinions heard). This sucked since there isn't any place to ride in Bakersfield or the surrounding areas especially since Mesa Marin is gone now there isn't even a place you can just go to take a day trip to just ride around unless you know someone with private land to ride on. When I was growing up you could ride just about anywhere, up and down Porterville Hwy in the hills and across from Hart Park. We had a couple different race tracks. My brother used to race at Sprockets Race track and another one on Ming Ave. (can't remember the name). I even remember one time I was about 14 years old and riding my friends 125 down Chester Ave and a cop pulled next to me and just said "hi". We used to ride that thing everyday to go to the water slides/arcade. Yeah right now that would not happen. It sucks that now we have to drive at least 2 1/2 hours away for my kids to enjoy a riding time.