Too bad about this BMX park. The problem isn't the park, it's our "litigious society." It's too bad we can't do something about the litigious society and leave the bike paths alone!

The reasons to bulldoze the BMX park were no less valid years ago. I don't see what has really changed. I'd rather let kids be kids then lawyers be lawyers.

The BMX track was not only a threat to the city for law suits, but it was a real danger to the many users of the Stevens Creek Trail and the people who used the BMX track. I have seen many close calls there.

So, we took away another group of kids relatively benign form of entertainment. Looks like we'll have a few dozen new kids ready to be lured into the local gangs so that they'll have something to do.

We can't keep taking away without giving something back! The new BMX park sounds great, except it is out where nobody by seniors live. Who is going to use up all their energy riding out to that and then being too tired to do the jumps and then having to ride back home?

How about building it at the Cuesta Park Annex? Yeah, I know, that will go over like a lead balloon.

A danger to creek riders your kidding right??? That park has been there 20 plus years way before the creek trail. Too many close calls what about all the new idiots on the trail. Talk about real danger, half of them can't ride and have no clue about general rules on a bike trail.
It's a sad day for what used to be a quite little spot for kids to go hang out and be kids on their bikes. Guess there were too many close calls for "some" people.

I don't see the BMX track being anymore of a hazard than people on the trail. All too often I have had close calls with parents and children riding on the trail itself. Often parents don't teach their children the proper etiquette for trail riding, especially when the children are on bicycles-- some take up the trail 2, 3 abreast and refuse to move to the right for passing bicyclists. I see kids on bikes, off the trail as less of a hazard than those on the trail.

So you take away the park. Then try to build them a new one, so by the time you get it together, they will be adults. Well done! Oh buy the way I saw a pebble on the path, maybe you should tear out the path before someone kills them self.

better remove the fountain at city hall...a small child might drown
better remove the trees and flowers on Castro street, someone may sneeze from the pollen and get into an accident.
better close all the parks, a rabid squirrel might attack someone.....

better yet...let's just shoot the lawyers...problem solved.....

This is pathetic. The city of MV does less than nothing for its youth. It actually runs bulldozers over the one dirt bike park in a town of 70,000 without any public hearing, hoping no one will notice! If you don't have tons of money and a BMW SUV, your kid is stuck at home getting obese watching pizza commercials if they live in MV. They can't even convince the seniors to let them play a little ping pong with them or do some crafts. What a sad state of affairs. MV spends nearly $90 million per year on it's overpaid fire, police, and city staff, and repaving perfectly good streets without spending a DIME on kids or families, collected from HUGE property taxes from residents AND Google---we have GOOGLE folks! AND MICROSOFT! These are companies any city in America would die for. And yet not one of them even sponsors a softball team. Or donates money to the schools in a meaningful way. Or has named a park after themselves, opened a ball field, or how about a skate park! These companies, and many of the tax payers of MV, can see the problems in front of them and yet no one does anything. The mayor and city council needs to be turned out on its ear and the entire legal department shrunk down to almost nothing. That would save plenty of money, FINALLY allowing the construction of a Youth Center, Skate park, and Bike track.

I rode the trail tonight to look at the damage. The dirt track is really gone. It is a clean slate again. The loose dirt looks really easy to reshape into a new course, but the site is actually kind of small. Shoreline would be a nice place to build a new track, but it is too far from where most kids live.

I started my ride near Sleeper Avenue, and I found the perfect spot to rebuild some bike jumps. There is a huge field beside the trail and Highway 85 between Sleeper Ave and El Camino Real. It is not next to the creek and is mostly just dead grass (no riparian habitat in sight). We just need a few dirt piles and some shovels to make an awesome new dirt track. Let's rebuild some fun!

As a regular commuter on the trail, I was rather shocked to see the site destroyed. I don't recall any public hearings or announcements. What a shame that our society has come to a point where only "sanctioned" and "certified" activities are permitted for our kids. Nobody should be shocked when we see increases in gang activity in our city. These our certainly sad times for Mountain View.

Amen to local mom's comments!!!!!!

GOOGLE & MICROSOFT...........

ARE YOU LISTENING?????????????????????????????????????

i don't believe it is Google's or Microsoft's job to spend money on our children. These companies provide good jobs and tax revenues. We elect city officials to spend these tax revenues wisely. Many of the people reading this article (including myself) don't believe they are doing a good job. If they are smart (which I doubt) they pay attention to this public feedback and change their ways. If not, it is our responsibility to make sure they are looking for jobs shortly after the next election.

To Richard Cranium; with all due respect, Google is valued at $100 BILLION dollars. This is probably the largest valuation for any company in the history of the world. Where I grew up in Virginia, small family-owned furniture stores and diners would: A) donate food and t-shirts to schools/fundraisers, support local kids' sports teams, give out scholarships. I think it is truly mortifying that a company representing the economy of many small NATIONS around the world won't even donate a few books to the local school libraries, give them a couple of computers or sponsor a tech program. Have you seen the MOuntain View/Whisman STAR test results? They are in the Voice too. These schools are entering the Program Improvement category (i.e. failures) by No Child Left Behind. This is absolutely, categorically unacceptable and obviously the tax dollars paid by us and the companies in town are not enough.
If these multi-billion dollar corps. want to hire any local employees they better STEP UP TO THE PLATE and start educating the populace. The schools here are broken and horribly underfunded by the state. For just a couple million/year (0.0001% of revenue) they could have world-class K-12 education in their local community to be proud of. For about 0.000001% of revenue they could contribute to the arts, youth programs, libraries, etc. as IBM, Chevron, GM, mom and pop stores do ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. Google and other tech companies have been hiding behind the 101 barrier for years, getting away with their billions and contributing essentially nothing to the community they thrive in. That's my 2 cents, they contribute nothing but traffic and "jobs" many of which go to people who don't live here.

Please answer these questions

How long have the jumps been there ?
How many law suits have there been ?
How much does a new park cost ?

Can the City Attorney Martello do the math for us?

It just goes to show u the intelligence level
Of our city counsel.

There is absolutely nothing for the youth in our
community to do so when they Smoke Marijuana,steal alcohol from the local stores
& get drunk on the streets, .

JUST LET THEM WE HAVE TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM OUR YOUTH

SO WHEN THEY GET IN TROUBLE DON'T BLAME THEM GO TO
THE MIRROR & BLAME THAT PERSON.

Our city counsel from left to right : Hitler, Stalin, Kim jong ill, Saddam, Osama, Manson, Bush Jr, mao zedong,

its all the same. when it comes down to it "power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutly"

Yeah its redic. its sad that there are so many people out there that "close calls" are more important then drunk and drugged up teens, and violence. pretty lil people in theyre pretty lil homes with no problems callin out to the kids to keep off theyre lawn

well go to h.ll there is nothing to do. and when your house gets broken into. dont expect anybody to do anything. its the teens!

i personally. being a teen. would like to have something to do.

it's too bad that our society has become a "sue or be sued" society. if a kid falls and hurts himself....THEY'RE KIDS! THAT WHAT THEY DO!!
both of my sons have been going there for the last 4 years. i have a good mind to get out there myself with a shovel and get busy. come on mt. view! i agree with many posts here. these kids , that could be out having fun on the trai,might now be out roaming downtown , getting into trouble. we have a skateboard park over at rengstorff that poses the same liabilty as a bmx track. will that be next??

I live right next to the impromptu BMX Creek humps, and I weep for their demise. Then again, I was in Berlin when the Wall fell. If the will of the people can tear down a wall like that, the will of the people will rebuild the humps. They can't bulldoze them down every day :-).

Localmom

All due respect, Mountain View needs Google a heck of a lot more than Google needs Mountain View. There are literally hundreds of cities in the US and worldwide that would offer huge tax breaks and other incentives to have Google set up a campus in their location.

Having the Google campus located in Mountain View means our restaurants, bars, bookstores, coffee shops, gas stations, auto repair shops, barber shops etc etc all see increased revenues which trickle back to City Hall in the form of tax revenues. It is the responsibility of the City of Mountain View, County of Santa Clara, State of California and Federal Government to put that money to the best possible use…..sadly it is squandered. Again, not Google’s fault. I heard a statistic (have not verified this) that the taxes paid by the Top 10 compensated people at Google comprise 3% of the budget of the State of California. Google is doing their part to generate the wealth….it is our idiot elected officials who fail us….and we are bigger idiots for electing them in the first place.

With regard to test scores, I agree, they are abysmal. But that is neither the fault of Google nor their responsibility to fix. Google can and does hire the best and brightest from every country in the world…and their overseas talent is far less expensive and far more grateful for the opportunity. Our college kids are spoiled, self-absorbed and entitled…… The schools in the state suck for many reasons including tenured teachers, unions, idiotic priorities (free lunch programs), indulgent parents, inept administrators, litigation attorneys, insufficient funding, illegal immigration etc etc….too many to list and impossible to gather consensus on how to fix.

And a quick FYI….Google’s 2008 rank in Fortune Magazine’s list of 500 largest companies was #150 with profit of $4B…..not bad…but not the most profitable company in the history of the world. For reference, ExxonMobile had 2008 profits of $40B….

The Wall Street Journal last week quoted Margaret Thatcher who said….. “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money to spend”.

If Google is not spending their money on schools (and I don’t know that they are not) they probably believe their money would be wasted.

Martello, I think you missed a real opportunity here to involve the people in a "plan" to demolish this cherished and useful BMX park. If you had announced plans to demolish it and asked for volunteers to create a plan and support it, a grass-roots effort might have rebuilt it in the same place with half-half contributions from user & the city, because it was so nice right where it was. The city can still move forward on this - reading the comments above, it seems about 99 to 1 in favor of the old BMX park, with a lot of valid comments about how that 1 should worry less about a close call and just be a little more tolerant of the increasing traffic on Steven's Creek Trail. We all live in California, land of more & more people, not the old days like some virtually deserted mid-west little town with low population and few congestion issues. You really ought to have taken the time to post warnings about this action and give the people a chance to feed back about it through the current city-wide future-of-the-city vision planning underway. It's bizarre to have that sort of community-involvement effort underway at the same time as a city attorney's office pulls a back door fiat like this and razes a popular town feature without a chance for public discussion. Did I just miss the announcements? Personally, it was a disappointing shock to ride the trail myself yesterday (8/26/09) and discover for myself that the BMX park was gone, when I (age 54) had just used it 3 weeks ago. It'll remain a fond memory, I guess, until the city gets that $60k+ and finds a spot to replace our park. Very sad to see this kind of defensive process at work without public input in our city.

Too funny to listen to localmom and the other parents on here who expect the city to entertain their kids, at city cost. When i was growing up, we played in our yards, in city parks (without dangerous homemade additions, such as bike jumps). We came home from school, changed into play clothes and went outside and entertained OURSELVES. No city involvement, no public cost. Our parents took responsibility for us and guided us, they didn't expect the city to do their job. Parents today expect the village to raise their children so they don't have to.

Yankee, you're way off mark. This isn't a city park these kids are biking in and it's not at city cost either. You claim that they're "dangerous homemade additions", but those jumps have been there for decades and I can't recall anyone getting seriously injured. We're not asking the city to entertain our kids, we're asking the city to let our kids entertain themselves without stepping in and stopping it without discussion.

You played by yourself when you were a kid, good for you. That's the exact same thing these kids are doing. What makes your experience any better/different than theirs? And PLEASE don't tell me it's because it was in NY and how great NY is.

The original post about this was started August 22nd, titled "Stevens Creek bike area demolished". You can check it out in the Town Square as well. Michael Martello's post to that one is copied below. He invites anyone with questions to call him directly. I took him up on his offer and called him. He did confirm that the city has never been sued over these dirt jumps. The only reason that they demolished them was to prevent them from being sued in the future. This all stems from the lawsuit going on in San Jose from the Calabazas jumps.

My son also was a regular rider at Creek Trails, a.k.a. Devils Island. He helped to build and maintain them and it was a very sad day when they were demolished. The city cannot police these jumps 24/7 and we all know that they will be rebuilt. In fact I encourage the kids and adults who want them back to start rebuilding as soon as this all blows over.

For all of you with questions, I encourage you all to contact Michael Martello, as he suggested in his posting below.




Posted by Michael Martello, City Attorney, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on Aug 24, 2009 at 5:25 pm

Boy, this is one of the times I hate being an adult. I am an old skateboarder and surfer at heart and have owned more bikes than I care to admit. Nevertheless, it was I who asked that our recreation folks level the impromptu bike jumps. The comments in this blog to date are a great reflection on Mountain View as they evidence a community of thought and opinion on this subject. As one who has watched kids enjoying themselves at a birthday pary at San Jose's Calabassas facility, I know how much fun they can have. As one concerned for safety, what some kids are able to do on the jumps is sometimes frightening. As your city attorney, and charged with an important role in ensuring proper risk management, the call is simple. Make no mistake, we act first out of concern for safety and secondly out of concern for liability exposure. On both counts, we had but one decision to make.


I would be happy to talk to or meet with anyone who would like to on this subject. my office number is (650) 903-6303.

As I read these comments, I am shocked to think that these young & adult people can't find anything better to do with their time than to try to main or kill themselves riding a bicycle on small mountains of dirt, and shocked at the outcry of those who probably don't know anything about this area. Reminds me of "Chicken Little" (If you don't know this story, look it up online)
They make it sound like it is the only entertainment availabe in the whole city of Mountain, and that the young people will turn to gang membership. I feel bad that they don't have more confidnce in their children
I believe this is public land meaning it belongs to all residents. Did anyone get permission to destroy trees, all kinds of plants, small animal and bird homes,along this WILDLIFE CORRIDOR?? I have lived in Mountain View more than 25 years. I never heard, or saw notice of a campaign to build a BMX track there even before the SCT was there????
Last, but not least. If I want to dig a swimming pool in my yard, I have to have a permit. Even when I own the property! Do any of the BMX builders, users own this property???? I think not!

There was another city back in the mid-1930s that started to demolish this type of activity on public land as well. That city was Berlin.

Calabazas Park, on Rainbow Drive in Cupertino cost over $800,000 to build (and who knows how much to maintain).. so that a bunch of kids can ride, jump and hang out.. Egads.. and MtnView set aside $60,000 for theirs ?... someone in City Hall is day dreaming.. We need the money in a lot of areas, but not to please the young kids.. Let them use our parks, ride the trails and do community service for fun.. Jeeze, how did we "elders" grow up with out bike parks...

It's interesting how this is being *spun* as a kids life issue when so often the people I saw using this thing were adults. Clearly too it was made by adults as those humps were way too high and elaborate to be made by kids. Lots of people are posting here as moms, but who knows who they really are -- there is no verification. All the complaints could be from just one person as far as we know.

I would also point out that there is another one of these sets of ramps next to the trail just north of Middlefield. or was. Is it still there or has it been demolished also?

I have to admit that there is one thing about all this that I'll miss: the sight of fully grown men riding along on tiny little girl's bikes. One usually doesn't get that much hilarity for free.

Too bad the mounds aren't still there. I'd love to see Barry tell those kids that they're riding "tiny little girl's bikes" to their faces.

Or is that even Barry Jones? How do we REALLY know if that's him -- there is no verification.

Barry Jones

If you saw the olympics last year, maybe you saw the ADULTS riding the "tiny little girls" bikes in the BMX competition. It is a world wide sport. Open your eyes. Check out ABABMX.COM and NBL.ORG to see some of the national circuits in this country for BMX riding. And check out BMXWORLDS2009.COM to see the world competition the just wrapped up in Australia in July. Wow, all that just for men riding little girls bikes.

All these people talking about how kids will hurt themselves and kill themselves get a life and let your kids be kids. No matter the sport or activity sometimes things happen and kids get bumps and bruises. I bet half the people only realized it was here after the trail was put in. I got news for you, your way behind the times. It used to be jumping a fence or crossing the creek was the only way in. We are talking 20+ years of this place only to be wrecked by a bunch of people who will never use it, or even let their kids use it. Who are only out to wreck another persons fun since they don't agree.

Check out the cover of the sports section of today's Daily News. It is a photo of a Menlo Park rider. Web Link

Norville, I think everyone expressing outrage about this knows exactly where it is. Many of us older folks have ridden these dirt humps. My mountain bike was a little too big (too long) for them. The ramps where sized for BMX bikes. They were fun. They are now gone and many of us who enjoyed them are sad.

Thats messed up about the bmx trail i grew up walking up and down the bumps since i was a little kid. I remember the first time i feel on off my bike there nd i never sued the city...I just cant believe it...

Shame on you - City of Mountain View
That place has been there for over 20 years, my kids and thier kids rode there. I have never heard of anyone threatening to sue.

Norvell, you have lived here 25 years, I have lived here almost 50 years and believe me, Mountain View was a much different place more than 25 years ago. We grew up playing in the creek for fun, and yes these jumps were here in one form or another before you moved here. These jumps started way back when we still had vacant lots all over MV. They only became more known when the trail was built, at which time the city demolished them. Of course they reappeared soon after. Then the city came along and extended the fence along the entry side of the jumps to make them a little safer by forcing the riders to come around a turn to enter them instead of coming in high speed off the bridge. So yes the city has known about these jumps for a very long time. Nobody is saying that there is no other form of entertainment in MV. Only that there is no form of BMX recreation in MV.

Do you think that the skateboarders at the skatepark are trying to Maim or kill themselves by riding their skateboards up and down the ramps there? You say that you are shocked at the outcry by people who know nothing about this area but it seems more like you are the one that knows nothing about this area if you don't know anything about the history of this place. This was a great place to have fun for free, and get exercise. Where else can BMX riders ride in Mountain View?

I'm all for government big or small controlling every aspect of our lives, as well as plenty of lawyers and activists to make sure they tell me exactly how I should live, think, act, and talk. The country's and city's past is just an old relic full of out-dated ideas, values, and lifestyles. Clearly we've gotten it all wrong, so bring on the bulldozers!

i will gladly spend my time to rebuild a new set of jumps but not on the shore line path only the original spot or and alt. loc on the north side of el camino. for much less that 800k i can build another track.

ohh yeah the kid who hurt himself a Calabazas had very little experience riding a bike so he should have known his limits.

HEY,

MOUNTAIN VIEW really really sucks! I'm so disgusted! Why don't you just keep us all locked up in our homes. I jumped there 25 years ago. I rode there 15 years ago! I helped build some of the jumps with my friend who now is fighting in Afghanistan. Thanks Rick! We both grew up in Mountain View!! Also, we never wore helmets either and we flew and were airborne for the entire afternoon for many years. We grew up on bikes! I'm so appalled. Even to this day, I ride over the jumps. This is becoming less and less like America, land of the free! Mountain View: you are such morons and ruin it for so many kids to have fun! Destroyers of Freedom! You know, the dangers of becoming fat and lethargic are much more harmful to kids than jumping around on bikes and having fun!
Pitch forks and shovels, time for a revolution in Mountain View!

No disguising my name for this cause!! I'm pissed! Why not stop CalTrains since kids and adults keep committing suicide on the tracks? Halt the trains! Take away are cars since so many people die in traffic accidents? I'm so disgusted! I agree with most of the posts above.

I rode my bike all over Mountain View beginning at age 6. There were dangers but we learned to be careful. I had paper routes beginning age 10. Met tons of really great people and some weirdos but that's ok. I grew up on a BMX! 30 years later, I'm riding strong! Don't put me in a Fitness box! I'm so sad that we're so overly-protective and generating a culture of stay-in-your-room, unadventurous kids.

I think Mountain bikers and BMXer's should unite and protest this egregious act by City Council.

[Post removed]

Hey Mike M you moron, if kids could own property, they would have had some pretty amazing ramps! The creek jumps didn't bother anyone and its just a pile of dirt humps. Are we going to flatten all mounds in the city?
"Knock them out?" Sounds like you got issues. Try going for a ride, its nice and cool outside now or are you scared of the dark?

MiKE M. IS THAT YOU POSTING RUDE COMMENTS ABOUT LITTLE GIRLS BIKES. I HAVE GIRL FRIENDS THAT RIDE "BOYS BIKES" DO YOU WANT TO MAKE FUN OF THEM TOO. YOU BETTER STEP UP.

Well, there is always the Police Activities League for the kids displaced by the bulldozers!

ok so i have been talking every day to my 2 boys about this."devils island" , or "devils" as they call it, has been there way too long. we have talked about something as simple and annoying as making up some signs, and marching around city hall in protest this coming week after they get out of school. perhaps planting a couple signs on the trail at the old site, to something as extreme as going out to the site with shovels in hand this winter(when the rains come) and bulding them again. anyone else with me on this one? hit me back at :thcastaway@yahoo.com and lets do this!i have been in this town since 1981, and have walked, and biked up and down the creek long before a trail ever showed up at devils! this act of city government is one of the most assinine acts i've seen in a long time!mr. martello i will be calling.

Pissed! The city has done NOTHING to chase away the homeless that live in this same area. They defecate in the area. They dig in locals trash cans and drag it into this same area. Some are dangerous individuals. Yet the city has chosen to pick on the children. AS USUAL. Take a walk through the woods in this area and you will see the "homes"/"camps" of these people.

Let me get this straight, the city is afraid of lawsuits from parents of children hurt at this illegal BMX park, but makes no bones of supporting a Day Worker Center for illegals?

While I support j ravanell's effort to take back the park with shovels, he should realize that the police will most likely arrest him and others if he does now that the whole situation has become "illegal".

We have all lost our marbles. Citizens should sue the city of advocating illegal activity in their neighborhoods and along El Camino. And then give the kids back their BMX park.

Oh no, now the "build a wall" Republicans are getting into it. Why don't you go find your own forum to talk about the worker center? Don't cross-pollinate every discussion with your issue.

@bruno who wrote "Or is that even Barry Jones? How do we REALLY know if that's him -- there is no verification": yes, Bruno, exactly. Glad you got the point.

Barry:

When government starts acting this way, it cross-pollinates into every aspect of our lives. It's the selected enforcement that I can't stand.

[Post removed]

As the mother of a bmxer I'm completely appalled by this action by the city. How about posting a "Ride at Your Own Risk" sign. That would have cost much less than a bulldozer and you wouldn't look like the idiots that you are. The closest official BMX track is in San Jose. We often drive over to Livermore to let the kids ride. These distances are certainly not within biking distance.

It is my experience that these trails give kids something to do. This is a sport that, believe it or not, entices kids to take care of their bodies. It keeps them off drugs; I have a hard time even getting my son to take an aspirin. He gets scraped up often from falling and has never gotten up and looked around for someone to sue. This is ridiculous. MV you should be ashamed.

This is too bad that another great riding spot gets torn down by a paranoid city council. I guess the population of potheads costs less money to the city than a bunch of kids having fun, I hope that Mr. Martello reads this. I understand that the city council was scared that some parent might sue but there are risks everywhere in the city. Some kid could get hit by the bus system, a little baby could drown in the fountain ect... best thing to do is to find a park in the middle of a neighborhood that has easy access to the community if at all possible and have a professional BMX track builder come in and build the jumps according to the citys saftey regulations, which is just filling in (the gaps of) the same jumps and making them at least 3-4 feet wide so everyone can ride them. DONT hire the company that did the new calabazas park. I'm sorry but it doesn't cost $800,000 to pile up dirt. Not to mention that they did a horrible job with it. So bad that any of the serious local riders refuse to ride there because it is too dangerous. Dont hire a skatepark builder to build a BMX track. Hire a BMX track builder it do it.

What a crying shame. That was such a nice place for everybody.

I guess kids can go back play videogames.

What did you expect? You say you don't want government to control your lives and yet most of you voted for Obama. What did you think was going to happen? This is just the tip of the iceberg and most of your freedoms will be taken away from you by obammunism. Soon you will not even be allowed to post on sites like this without the government approving what you write first. You think that only happens in China? The first step has already been taken.

Web Link

I do not believe Michael Martello for a second when he says that this was a safety issue first and liability second. It is only about their fear of liability, and it could have been handled differently if they cared.

We do not need local nanny governments policing healthy recreational activities. I guess they prefer kids with whom I have hanged out there to smoke pot, get fat and join gangs instead, that sure will be "safe" for them.

[Post removed for being juvenile provocation rather than rational discourse]

Three years, and kids are still turning to drugs and gangs instead of wholesome recreation.

Shame on Mountain View bureaucrats. Shame.