How you can help save the Nine Mile Creek trail

Thank you so much for signing the petition to say NO to converting the Nine Mile Creek walking trail into a shared trail for bicycles! 

Bloomington residents: If you want to do more, and I hope you do, read on. 

The petition is only a small part of what we need to do to protect our park. This needs to be a campaign of education. You can help with that!

Many people I have spoken to are not aware that Question 3 will change our trail so drastically. This is an easy way for you to help: Talk to other Bloomington residents about the ballot measure and suggest they consider voting no. Share your passion about the trail. The goal is to have the majority of residents vote no on question 3 (because that’s the only sure way to protect the park). Also, these ideas might be useful:

1) Point out only $6 million of the $20 million requested is going to environmental protection and restoration. $11 million is for the bike trail, and $3 million for construction in Moir Park. 

2) When I talk to people on the trail, I point out places where trees will be cut down and retaining walls will be built so they can really envision what will happen. 

3) Note that the trail will probably be somewhat straightened so we lose those delicious curves. 

4) Remind people with dogs and children they’ll need to keep their dogs on a tighter leash, and keep the kids out of the bike lanes.

The more of us are spreading the word, the better! Remember, the only way to protect our park for sure is for the majority of people to vote no on Question 3 in the November election! 

Another way you can help is to write about your concerns to decision makers:

1) Go to https://www.bloomingtonforward.org/connect You may get a letter back about the “statistically valid 2019 survey,” which had people rank what was important to them. Trails were high on the list, but that doesn’t justify specific actions. Feel free to ask me if you have questions about their response, see email address below.

2) Find your councilperson and let him/her know how you feel at https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/cc/city-councilmembers-and-district-maps

If you want any of the information I’ve collected, I’d be happy to share it with you. Most of what I know is from emails from Ann Kattreh, the Parks & Recreation Director and from reading through the Park System Master Plan. 

My email: mlbloomingtonmn@gmail.com

Thanks again for your help saving our beautiful trail!

Michele

NOTE: I realized we’re getting a lot of signatures from out of state, so I’ve updated the petition to point out that we can only use signatures from Bloomington, MN. City Hall may care about people from nearby cities, but they definitely aren’t interested in out-of-state voices. So, thank you people from other states for caring about our park, but we won’t be able to use your signatures. :-(