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Anthills Bike Trails in Houston: RIP


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The entire trail system won't be nuked, but apparently large swatches of it will be destroyed to create flood control basins. 

March 6, 2019  Popular Anthills Biking Trails to be Destroyed in the Name of Flood Mitigation

<snip>  Perhaps most galling is language used by the Flood Control District in a memo and noted by Swamplot:  Large sections of the popular Anthills Mountain Bike Trail, which the district notes "were built on publicly-owned land without written permission and without compensation to the public" will be cleared, though a portion that sits between the 2 westernmost basins will remain. 

 

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This is spot on: "Experts have pointed out repeatedly that more vegetation and a return to the bayou's natural meandering nature (as opposed to straight, concrete gullies) provides a much greater defense against flooding. But, thanks to shortsighted policies and unchecked development, we only exacerbate the problems and put wonderful, natural treasures like the anthills on the chopping block for no reason."

 

Also, please use the "paste as plain text" for us weirdos that like dark mode.

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2 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Also, please use the "paste as plain text" for us weirdos that like dark mode.

Will use the Crtl + Shift + V option for Chrome in the future.  BTW,  in the original post, I didn't paste any text. I just typed it out from the original. 

Edited by June Bug
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7 minutes ago, mtbmx said:

anyone remember the glory days of memorial park back in the nineties?   those concrete paver drop-ins? you could be at the top of the drop-in and not be able to see it near the bottom.  steep!!

HoChiMin trail. Rode my share there 86-88, they were pretty much the only game in town. 91-92 right before I moved to Austin I lived on Dairy Ashford across the street from Stratford HS and rode the anthills all the time. It smelled like raw sewage back then too, like most bike trails in Houston.

 

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20 hours ago, June Bug said:

<snip>  Perhaps most galling is language used by the Flood Control District in a memo and noted by Swamplot:  Large sections of the popular Anthills Mountain Bike Trail, which the district notes "were built on publicly-owned land without written permission and without compensation to the public" will be cleared, though a portion that sits between the 2 westernmost basins will remain. <snip>

I wonder how far they will pursue this "without compensation to the public" idea. I hope it never leaves Houston. But it does highlight what might happen.

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I wonder how far they will pursue this "without compensation to the public" idea. I hope it never leaves Houston. But it does highlight what might happen.

The public was compensated. All the riders that enjoyed that trail over the years are ‘public’ and they were not required to pay a fee to use those trails. That absence of cost and providing recreation is compensation in my book.


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The trail builders (public) were not compensated, with anything other than thank yous and smiles.

On the other hand, public funds were used to acquire land in Austin, then to fence off said land and prevent access to the public. The public also pays for salaries and equipment to keep themselves off said property.

On the bright side, at least 360 and 2222 don’t look like 71/lakeway.

Little boxes on the hill side
Little boxes made of Ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same.

So what I am saying is maybe some how BCP protection has benefited mountain bikers and protected them from developers?


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4 hours ago, Tree Magnet said:


The public was compensated. All the riders that enjoyed that trail over the years are ‘public’ and they were not required to pay a fee to use those trails. That absence of cost and providing recreation is compensation in my book.


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Unfortunately, there are some "public servants" that look at it different. June Bug's quote probably came from one of those types.

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On 3/7/2019 at 3:54 PM, cxagent said:

Unfortunately, there are some "public servants" that look at it different. June Bug's quote probably came from one of those types.

Yes, exactly. A popular trail heavily used by mtn bikers and walkers -- a wonderful resource created by volunteer labor.  To imply that the public  "wasn't reimbursed" is pretty damned galling. 

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On 3/7/2019 at 7:43 AM, mtbmx said:

anyone remember the glory days of memorial park back in the nineties?   those concrete paver drop-ins? you could be at the top of the drop-in and not be able to see it near the bottom.  steep!!

Yeah, lived in Houston from 93-96 and rode that many times. On a clunky full rigid.

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On 3/7/2019 at 10:54 AM, cxagent said:

I wonder how far they will pursue this "without compensation to the public" idea. I hope it never leaves Houston. But it does highlight what might happen.

I have a pretty steep property bill tax each year. I think some of my dollars are compensating the city for trails, that is what I pay for.

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On 3/7/2019 at 7:43 AM, mtbmx said:

anyone remember the glory days of memorial park back in the nineties?   those concrete paver drop-ins? you could be at the top of the drop-in and not be able to see it near the bottom.  steep!!

Ho Chi and Cambodia, those were the days. It had some really fun stuff until around '92/93.

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There were some other bootleg trails right at the intersection of 610 and Memorial sometime  around 02 or 03 a friend and I rode. I think they were pretty short lived but fun, fast and flowy with a couple steep dips to fly out jumps.

Edited by JRA
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7 hours ago, JRA said:

There were some other bootleg trails right at the intersection of 610 and Memorial sometime  around 02 or 03 a friend and I rode. I think they were pretty short lived but fun, fast and flowy with a couple steep dips to fly out jumps.

The Triangle. Those eventually got folded into the main trail system, or at least made more legit. The entrance used to be by the arboretum and required you to ride through the drainage culvert then up a sweet, slick, steep climb followed by the best flowing stuff out there. 

I grew up living along the bayou at Memorial and the beltway and cut my teeth riding bikes on the anthills, well before I knew what mountain biking was. I remember my first summer back from college where I'd bought my first real MTB (Voodoo Zobop URT with Magura HS33 brakes!). I rode the Anthills 2-3 times a week and twice on weekends. The first place my wife and I ever road together. It'll be missed. It'll be back. 

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