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KT Alert Katy Trail News for July 14, 2005

July 14, 2005

Welcome to the KT Alert email, courtesy of www.BikeKatyTrail.com, keeping you updated on the Katy Trail. If you do not wish to receive these emails, see removal instructions at the end of this message.

Goin' to Kansas City... If you help

Imagine riding the Katy Trail all the way into Kansas City. Your Katy Trail trips could end (or start) with a triumphant ride around Liberty Memorial, or a side-trip through the Country Club Plaza. Kansas City residents would no longer need to drive an hour and a half to enjoy this great asset.

We have an opportunity to get the ball rolling right now. As reported in Monday's Kansas City Star (see full text at the end of this email), the Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has asked Missourians to let him know whether they think a Kansas City extension is worth the effort. In other words, the state will only take this idea seriously if they get enough emails from citizens who want to see it happen. If you're not a Missourian, you can help too by telling the Director that you would be even more likely to come spend tourist dollars in our state if you could include KC in your Katy Trail trips.

The Katy Trail will never get to KC unless the state thinks the people really want it. And they won't think we really want it unless we deluge them with email over the next few days and weeks. Please take two minutes to drop a quick email to Doyle Childers, Director of the Department of Natural Resources, at moparks@dnr.mo.gov - it can be short and sweet, anything to the effect of "Please extend the Katy Trail into Kansas City, as quickly as possible".

Boonville Bridge Update

The fate of the Boonville Bridge, and potentially the entire Katy Trail, is still up in the air. Attorney General Jay Nixon is suing to block removal of the bridge, and the state has countered to defend removing the bridge. The issue has become politicized, but we hope that all sides will do what's best for the citizens and small businesses of Missouri.

You can read a detailed explanation of this controversy at the BikeKatyTrail home page.

New Businesses

Several new businesses have opened up on or near the Katy Trail over the past few months. Here are a few:

Mokane Bar & Grill in Mokane, a friendly and family-oriented place
Napoli Italian Restaurant in Boonville, which has gotten some rave reviews in our Comments section
Amber House Inn B&B in Rocheport
Hartsburg Inn B&B in Hartsburg
Riverview Suites B&B in Boonville
Penrod's View Guest House B&B in McKittrick
Country Inn & Suites On Historic Main Street in St Charles

On the other side of the coin, a few places have also gone out of business:

Thornhill Winery in Hartsburg
Old Town Inn in Marthasville
McBaine Country Club in McBaine
Taylor House Bed and Breakfast in Columbia

Businesses come and go - please let me know if you discover a new one that's not listed on BikeKatyTrail.com, or one that is listed but has gone out of business.

New Web Pages

I've added a couple of minor pages to the website since the last newsletter:

Emergency contacts - a list of phone numbers for the county sheriff's offices across the length of the trail (http://www.bikekatytrail.com/emergency.asp)
Getting from Lambert - St Louis Airport to the Katy Trail - for those out-of-towners who fly into St Louis with their bikes (it happens more than you might realize!) (http://www.bikekatytrail.com/airport2kt.asp)

New Edition of Katy Trail Guidebook

Brett Dufur's updated & revised edition of The Complete Katy Trail Guidebook will be ready for shipment August 1st. In addition to updated services & campgrounds and more history and highlights along the Katy Trail, Brett's guidebook also includes a coupon section in the back of the book that can easily pay for itself on your trip. Coupons and special rates in the 8th edition include: special rates for Katy Trail cyclists at Hotel Bothwell, half price coupon for camping at Katy Roundhouse Campground, 50% discount for second night stay at Rivercene B&B, 1/2 price picnic for two at the winery at Rocheport, 10% off coupon for one night stay at School House B&B and Yates House B&B in Rocheport, coupon for a free water bottle at Tryathletics, free shuttle coupon for Best Value Inn at Holts Summit, coupon for a special room rate at the Ramada Inn in Jefferson City, special Katy Trail pricing at Captain Wohlt B&B, free winery tour coupon for Stone Hill Winery... and more...

You may order the book online at www.pebblepublishing.com or feel free to call (573) 698-3903 for more information.

Katy Trail Stuff

As usual, I just wanted to remind you that you can get Katy Trail oval "KT" stickers and Katy Trail t-shirts (with a cool trail map on the back) at the Katy Trail Merchandise page (http://www.bikekatytrail.com/ktstuff.asp)

Remember, you can always see back issues of the KT Alert newsletter by clicking one of the dates on this page: http://www.bikekatytrail.com/MailingList.asp

Happy trails,
Ray Scott
Founder & Administrator, www.BikeKatyTrail.com

-----begin Kansas City Star Mike Hendricks column-----

Let’s mail without fail for the trail

MIKE HENDRICKS

I doubt it took a letter-writing campaign by each town along the route before Missouri’s Katy Trail was extended from St. Charles to Clinton.

But those of us in KC are going to have to deluge the Missouri Department of Natural Resources with letters and e-mails before the trail will ever get this far.

That’s what they’re telling me in Jeff City.

It is simply not enough that Kansas City-area officials have been clamoring for years for a connection to the state’s popular hiking and biking trail.

No, to convince DNR Director Doyle Childers that we really, really, want a Katy connection, he needs to hear from regular folks, and in writing.

“We love to hear from the public,” said agency spokeswoman Connie Patterson. “Have the e-mails sent to us.”

OK, now we know the ground rules. But before I hand out that address, a flashback.

Let me remind you that almost a year ago, I put out a challenge.

Someone in a position of authority, I said, needed to champion this cause. Someone like a governor.

Even without a Kansas City extension, the 225-mile Katy is the longest rails-to-trails project in the country.

It is one of Missouri’s prime tourist draws. Someday it could be part of a bigger regional attraction. Plans call for the Katy becoming the eastern leg of a 700-mile Quad-State Trail, linking Missouri, Kansas Nebraska and Iowa.

But first some gaps need filling, especially the one that would join Kansas City to the Katy at Windsor, Mo.

Unfortunately, no one in the Blunt administration has made that a priority.

Not unless you count Childers.

Sure, he seems sympathetic, as he ought to be. His agency operates and maintains the trail.

In a recent op-ed piece in this newspaper, Childers wrote that “bringing the trail into Kansas City” was “a much wiser use of tax dollars” than making the railroad bridge at Boonville safe for hikers and people on bicycles.

However, that’s about as far as this DNR director has gone. That, and asking for a show of “public support.”

Well, fine. If that’s what it’s going to take to get things moving — and I doubt that’s all there is to it — then we should bury the guy in correspondence.

Indeed, some folks are gearing up for a grassroots campaign.

The Mid-America Regional Council is working up a Katy Trail “fact sheet” to help mobilize an e-mail campaign for later in the summer.

Brent Hugh at the Missouri Bicycle Federation tells me that a separate petition drive has gathered several hundred signatures.

That’s encouraging news.

But if you’re like me, you don’t want to be handed a petition to sign.

You want to act right away.

Therefore, when I half-jokingly asked Patterson if her boss would mind being buried in e-mails, she replied “bring it on.”

So send e-mail to Childers at moparks@dnr.mo.gov . Or drop a note via snail mail to Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Of course, be polite. Also be sure to tell Childers that Missouri needs to begin immediate negotiations for the necessary right of way.

The problem has never been money so much as motivation.

Your letters and e-mails just might be that kick in the pants.

-----end Kansas City Star Mike Hendricks column-----

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