Monday, May 6, 2013

Remember All Those Caps you Bought Last Year?

This time last year, many of us were dealing with the passing of our friend, Giuseppe "Beppe" Maino. Beppe died on the Richland B and O bike trail after accidentally slamming into a center bollard on the trail. Our friend's death galvanized the cycling community in Mansfield to adopt a unified front that demanded a re-thinking of bollards on the B and O. We wrote letters, raised some money, and two men stood up to take the lead in working with city government to make a change. Paul Bender of Richland Moves! and Pete Medek led the effort that began twelve months ago and resulted in a unanimous decision by the Parks Board to remove all center bollards from the length of the B and O trail and upgrade the signage on the trail. Below is a message I received from Pete Medek recently giving me an update on how things are going. Thought you guys would like to know. When you see Pete and Paul, make sure to thank them for the hard work they have done to make this happen.

p.s. The dough we raised during our cap sale is waiting patiently to either help fund necessary safety equipment during the trail upgrade or to be used in some other way to memorialize Giuseppe. We'll let everyone know once the dollars have been allocated.

Hi Jay,

The park board had originally intended for the bollard removal to be completed by March 1. But Paul and I pointed out that a number of the crossroads along the trail have no "No Motor Vehicle" signs or anything else to signal drivers not to drive onto the trail. In those locations the bollards are serving that purpose.

So the next step was to do a sign inventory to see how many were needed. That turned into a complete signage upgrade, as it was found that some stops signs were faded out, missing, etc.

So I worked up a quote for the board which was approved in early March, I think. They approved up to $6k for new trail signs and gave Richland Moves! permission to handle the installation. I should mention that Paul and I lobbied for improving the effectiveness of the signs as well. That lead to a new (custom) sign being approved as well (see attached).

We are going to check out a few different sized mock ups of the new custom sign that we are going to use. Once we do that we can place the order for all the signs, posts and hardware we need.
Also, not that sign installation is rocket science or anything... but if you know anyone with experience in that area, let me know as well. We want our volunteer installers to do a first rate job. So any installation tips and tricks would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete Medek

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