Ryland Towne Court is complex of newer townhomes located at the very end of Ortega, just before the train tracks. There exists an easement to the southern neighborhoods, the only means of access to the area other than busy, four-lane California Street.
I say existed, since, as I discovered yesterday, the pathway has been boarded up. By whom, I wonder? By a vigilante group of residents, grown weary of hispanic laborers traveling through on their bicycles? How unfortunate, if this is truly the case. By blocking access to one group, one blocks access to all.
I walk everywhere I possibly can, and this route is certainly the more desirable to get to Rengstorff Park, the Senior Center, the Community Center, to continue on to downtown. I would never dream of walking to any of those places if my only choice were to walk along California Street.
If this pathway blockage was really done legally, then shame on the city of Mountain View for approving it. So much for being green and reducing car trips. Moreover, to this writer, it would be categorically an act of racism and agism (yes, most in this area who bike or walk are elderly or hispanic.
