(letter from Don Fong to The Good Times, Jan 5, 2000)



Editors:



In your article "Bicycles vs Environment?" (December 23, 1999), Ron

Goodman is quoted as saying, ``Arana Gulch is a sacred place, and

there's no one in our organization who doesn't want to protect it.''

But it must be noted that chopping down half a dozen heritage trees,

and laying asphalt right thru endangered species habitat, is a

mighty strange way to "protect" a sacred place.



Goodman says, ``why is Arana Gulch sacred?  Because cars have destroyed

the area surrounding it.''  However, a more honest appraisal would be

that it is not cars, but *people* who are ultimately responsible for

the destruction.  Selfish people, destroying nature out of greed, and

degrading it for the sake of convenience --- just like People Power now

wants to do with Arana.



Goodman says, ``This could be a community asset, like West Cliff Drive,

that the community wants to protect.''  But if he'd open his eyes,

he'd see that Arana is already an asset that the community wants

dearly to protect, and it hardly needs a bike road to make it so.



Your article neglected to mention the fact that among the 40-odd

speakers at the December 9 hearing, about one quarter were bicyclists,

roughly half of whom spoke earnestly against the project.  The

same split among bicyclists has occurred at previous hearings.

Readers should not assume that the bicycle community agrees with

the self-appointed "People Power" board, who --- despite their

democratic-sounding name --- have never conducted a membership survey

to validate their extreme position on this controversial issue.



Don Fong

Santa Cruz