Like anything else
that is government funded, MCP has found itself at the whim of a state
budget process that is at best chaotic. Even though MCP is a county
park, much of their funding comes from the State of California. At the
beginning of this year MCP found out that their state funding is
scheduled to be cut by nearly 80%. At a meeting of the Parks and
Recreation Commission on February 2 of this year more than 200 concerned
citizens showed up to voice their strong support for MCP. Because of the
strong support shown for the park, the Recreation Commission has
indicated a commitment to supporting and improving MCP. Although the
matter of funding is still not totally solved, several efforts are now
underway to not only make up the difference in funds, but to increase
the funding so that continued improvements, and possibly a future
expansion of the park can be made.
A Friends of Metcalf
Motorcycle Park has been created to increase the public visibility of
the park and give people a place to share information and comment on
their experiences at MCP. They have recently launched a website at http://www.fmmp.org/ that everyone reading this should visit to show support. The website was
not fully functional at the time of this writing, but does have a
functional Forum in which much good information about what is happening
at
It's
not often that you will find an off-road riding area that can be
called "convenient". It usually seems that driving
long distances to find a place to ride is just part of the
package that comes with being an off-road enthusiast. But lo and
behold, right on the doorstep of the land of "virtual"
everything is a little slice of very real off-road heaven.
(MORE)
MCP and how to show
your support is given. If you can find the time to visit the siteyou will find contact
information for state representatives who can have an effect on state
funding for MCP.
As a part of the
improvements at MCP, the staff is thinking of hooking their weather
station to the website along with a couple of webcams in the future so
that folks interested in visiting the park can hop on the web before
heading out to see how full the parking lot is and the condition of the
trails. In addition, there are plans for a water truck and operator to
help out with track and trail maintenance, which would greatly improve
summer riding conditions at the park.
The park has also
organized a Volunteer Work Day on the first Saturday of every month.
With the interested public involved there can only be more support
generated for MCP. In addition, having public involvement will mean that
the facilities can be improved and new features implemented while MCP
maintains their existing staffing levels.
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