Update of the Upper Tampa Bay/Suncoast Trail Connection

This morning I ventured to the Hillsborough County Commission meeting to see what action the commissioners would take about extending the Upper Tampa Bay Trail seven miles and extending it to the Suncoast Trail.

Don't hold your breath, folks.

The commissioners voted to re-align a section of the UTBT connector trail to remove it from the property of Carolyn Wilson, a prominent developer who wants to build some 30 homes on the site. Informed folks know that trails enhance property values, but staff says Ms. Wilson the property owner is adament about not having any part of a trail that would be the gem of the state of Florida.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe pledged his efforts to connect the Upper Tampa Bay Trail and the Suncoast Trail. So did Commissioner Kevin Beckner. The other commissioners? Who knows. Here's Sharpe talking with county Real Estate Direcor Mike Kelly at the mike.

I was there along with other bicycle advocates in Hillsborough County: MPO bike-pedestrian coordinator Gena Torres, CBE bike shop owner Brian Eckman, all-around bike guy Jim Shirk, Karen Kress of the Tampa Downtown Partnership and Michael Edgerley. None of us were able to talk during the public comment because the public comment period was closed by the commission before our names were called.

After the morning part of the meeting, I met four county staffers who are working on his project. I suggest you contact these people for information.

Susan Fernandez of the County Attorney's Office; FernandezS@HillsboroughCounty.ORG
Bill Hand, putting the properties together; HandW@HillsboroughCounty.ORG
Mike Kelly, property manager; KellyM@HillsboroughCounty.ORG
Peggy Hamric, Technical Services Manager; hamricp@HillsboroughCounty.ORG

They plan to hold a public meeting in a month or so to inform the public what's going on.

Here's the deal. The seven-mile extension connector is split into four segments. The top section goes along the Lutz Lake Fern Road and a section just below that goes through swiftmud land. That's about half of the connector trail and those sections are in good shape. The county commissioners need to allocate money to make those segments happen, but they stiffed the project when they approved ZERO dollars from the $40 million in community investment tax money.

The third and fourth sections are more dicey. Section A ran through Carolyn Wilson's land and she told the county she doesn't want no trail. So Sharpe wants to re-route the trail just north of where the Upper Tampa Bay Trail currently ends to the west side of Gunn Highway through the Lake Rogers Park area, which is owned by the city of St. Petersburg. The trail would then have to veer back east across Gunn Highway and head up to Van Dyle Road and the swiftmud land.

This is not going to be easy. We need to lean on the county commissioners to fund the first and second sections, which are ready to go, and lean on staff to come up with a workable re-alignment for the rest of the connection.

Please Attend Wednesday's 9 AM Hillsborough County Comission Meeting

Urgent Reminder: Please attend Wednesday's 9 a.m. Hillsborough County Commission meeting to protest the county's proposed derailing of the Upper Tampa Bay Trail's 7-mile extension to connect with the Suncoast Trail.

Sign up at 8:45 am to speak to the commission.

The county commission is scheduled to deal with this trail issue at 10:45 am

I have looked at the county parks staff report and it appears the staff are advising the commissioners that are already plenty of trails in the county.

Make your voice heard Wednesday and tell the county commissioners to link the Upper Tampa Bay Trail with the Sunncoast Trail along the planned alignment that has been in the works for years. This would create the longest continuous paved trail in the state of Florida, a superhighway trail.

Here are the points you can make:

-- County spent $400,000 to investigate and confirm the best alignment
-- BOCC previously approved the alignment and acquired property through eminent domain
-- County purchased 16 acres south of Van Dyke for the trail
-- Notices sent to affected property owners to the north in this final phase anticipating this alignment
-- Negotiations underway to utility easement anticipating this alignment
-- Voted the region's #1 multi-use trail priority
-- BOCC's commitment building this trail leaves residents and visitors with expectations
-- Creating almost 60 miles of trail by connecting to Suncoast is an opportunity our community should not take lightly
-- Network of on-road bike lanes extensive in NW Hillsborough (Sheldon, Linebaugh, Ehrlich) that a real transportation network mixing on and off road facilities is allowing folks to access the trail without driving
-- IF justification for rescinding is that construction $ not lined up yet, we set aside alignments for ROADS
-- IF rescinded, how will this affect other properties acquired through eminent domain?
-- Can property owners in Phase IV notified that the county wants to purchase their property for the trail sue for attorney fees if county backs out of project?

Date Announced for the Bicycle Bash by the Bay

SWFBUD is proud to announce the 2009 Bicycle Bash by the Bay is set for OCTOBER 11 from 11 AM to 4 PM at Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg.

SWFBUD is looking to partner with the Share the Road Ride, which would be held before the Bicycle Bash by the Bay.

SWFBUD is also proud to announce that it has struck a strategic partnership with the Youth Triathlon Series Season Celebration, which will be among the many activities at this year's Bicycle Bash by the Bay.

If you want to participate in this year's Bicycle Bash by the Bay, contact SWFBUD at alansnel@yahoo.com

We Know How Lance Feels

Even Lance got his bike stolen.

It was time-trial bike in California

A Cloudy Century -- Felt Like Early June Up North

It was century day on this overcast Sunday, so I did my usual 100-miler to Zephyrhills/Dade City/San Antonio from good ol' Seminole Heights.

Little did I know that I would bump into:

-- The Dade City Crit, where I met friendly Tall Ed Collins, a fellow Seminole Heights Veloman.

-- And the Specialized demo at Flatwoods, where I met Manny and Carlos Mirabal, owners of SWFBUD store University Bicycle Center.

In Dade City, I caught the final few laps of an intense crit. Here they are with about three laps to go. It was about a minute per lap.


And now they're coming down the stretch.




After the heavy-duty pro-style race, it was time for the kids.


This is hilarious. The kids race actually included this girl on a unicycle.



Earlier in the day when I biked through Flatwoods and back, I stopped at the Specialized demo and saw Manny and Carlos Mirabal, owners of University Bicycle Center.

Today's Bicycle Brunch of News

Bicycle Stories reader Picot Floyd chips in with this fun story on a pretty snazzy gear system.




In other news, tweed and cycling are not exactly good partners in Florida. But they're fine together in San Francisco. Which is why a friendly fella named Colin has created the Thursday Tweed Ride in San Francisco, where folks are encourged to done their wool finery, adjust their cap at just the right angle and engage in pedals from an elegant bicycle era. Premier Tampa superblogger Jeff Houck of sidesalad.net fame sent me this wooly item.






Let's switch gears to close to home.

At the Seminole Heights Post Office, one hard-core roadie decides the best place to park a bike is inside. Good idea.

Lance Has Words For Reporter

Lance Armstrong verbally slices up a reporter who refers to Lance as a "cancer" for returning to the Tour de France.

I'm also adding some fun reading from ESPN.com's Jim Caple.