They’re making it worse for themselves. I’m talking about a handful of residents near the Sacramento River who want to delay the levee parkway and bike trail.
For their latest misfire in community relations, the no-trail group has quietly begun to promote the city’s new Del Rio Trail as a suitable alternative to the levee bike path.
The claim goes like this:
When the river levee parkway opens next year or 2026, it will connect Meadowview to the river bike path through Bill Conlin Youth Sports Complex on Freeport Boulevard.
The trail will carry cyclists, runners and pedestrians from Freeport to Old Sacramento and along the American River to Folsom.
But people in Meadowview and South Pocket don’t need to access the river levee. Instead, they can cycle or walk to Land Park via the new Del Rio Trail.
As those residents grow accustomed to the Del Rio option, any urgency to finish the levee bike trail north through Pocket disappears.
Without the need for an equity trail from Meadowview, the levee between Garcia Bend and Zacharias Park can remain a fenced, private waterfront paradise for a few Pocket homeowners.
Bottom line: Meadowview and South Pocket don’t need a levee bike trail. Those people can use the Del Rio “inner city” bike path.
Now for the reality.
Citing the Del Rio Trail as a substitute to the levee goes beyond arrogant. The words “separate but equal” jump to mind.
Meadowview is an underserved, minority-majority community. To suggest people who live there should seek an alternative recreational trail and stay off the river parkway is shameful.
But the word is out. The Del Rio option gets mentioned at meetings with city officials and community members. I ignore social media, but hear it surfaces there, too.
This is not a criticism of the Del Rio Trail. The new path connects diverse neighborhoods from Meadowview and Pocket to Freeport Manor, South Land Park and Land Park. It follows an abandoned railroad.
Del Rio runs 4.8 miles. Schools, retail centers, parks and homes are accessible from the pathway. The new bike trail is a welcome, community-first upgrade to a transportation route that served the city a century ago and became obsolete.
The old tracks sat empty for decades. Now the railway is a paved trail. Cyclists and pedestrians enjoy an environment where ballast, ties and rails supported agriculture and industry.
But a successful Del Rio Trail is no substitute for a paved pathway along the Sacramento River. The levee parkway, which transforms a gravel top into a first-class bike path, links Pocket and Land Park with a regional network.
The levee trail’s ambitions fly far above the benefits of the Del Rio Trail. The region deserves a completed river parkway. Meadowview included.
The no-trail group has been up to other mischief. A no-trail organizer sent an email to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board last year suggesting that City Council Member Rick Jennings supported fences to keep people off the levee.
The email was untrue.
In fact, Jennings said he was OK with construction fences along the levee while Army Corps of Engineers contractors made repairs. Jennings said nothing about private fences.
“We do not support cross-levee fences, and we never have,” says Dennis Rogers, chief of staff for Jennings. “That is not our position. To say otherwise is disingenuous. Our only interest was getting some sort of vehicle barrier, such as a pipe gate, to stop people from taking motorbikes up on the levee.”
Unclear is whether the dishonest email influenced flood board executive officer Chris Lief, who authorized several temporary levee fences in apparent violations of state law. Lief says the private fences are “minor alterations” and thus legal.
He was new to the job last year. Still learning who not to trust.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
