Will the County be Charging you to Run on the Parkway?
Rumors abound that the Recreation and Parks Commission is looking to generate more fees from Parkway users.
One potential source of revenue that has been identified by County staff is “training groups” that regularly use the parkway.
The proposed fee structure appears to be approximately $1 per person, per day–on top of existing parking fees. Here is the agenda item regarding fee schedules that was approved at the February Recreation and Parks Commission meeting.
I suspect they are targeting the larger training groups we see on the parkway. It will be interesting to see them try to collect the fee and differentiate between “training groups” and “groups of people that get together to train.”
Are we going to have to wear wrist-bands showing we’ve paid the fee? Maybe the County needs to do a little outreach to the running and cycling community to come up with a more practical solution. A potential alternative may be to increase sales of parking passes by allowing clubs and training groups to sell parking passes to their membership at a discounted rate.
The County Board of Supervisors will have to vote on the proposal before it is implemented. You may want to let them know what you think.
Here’s the money quote:
With the increased number of organized training groups utilizing services ie..the parkway or trails I feel those that are collecting fees for profit or non-profit need to be charged fees for use or some form of trail maintaince..not just trash pick up…
How to discern between a group of friends and for profit group would require some type of registration to state and local trail agency groups but that should not be too difficult…
There will always be some loopholes to etc..but the major players in organized training–ie Team in Training, Fleet Feet, Buffalo Chips etc…Discern how to work together to provide needed resources to maintain access to resources they all benefit.
Tony
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