CB 8 made wrong move on trail

To the editor,

On Jan. 27, Community Board 8 met at Vladek Hall for the roll out of the redesign submitted by the Parks Department for the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park.

I would like to express my profound disappointment in the decision of Community Board 8’s Parks and Recreation Committee to support it despite passionate and plentiful opposition by half of those present and a petition of over 2,550 people who are opposed to paving the Putnam Nature Trail with asphalt. Some efforts were made by committee members to offset the damage to the environment with green infrastructure.

In April of 2014, this same community board passed a resolution that trails in Van Cortlandt Park would have surfaces that are flexible, permeable and non-toxic. Asphalt fits none of those criteria. All of the information to make a cost/benefit accounting using alternative surfaces was not available, yet the resolution was sent forward and voted upon. In fact, a Parks slide was shown with misinformation, that compressed mineral soil was not ADA compliant, when it in fact is ADA compliant, as is crushed stone. These surfaces fit in more appropriately with the bucolic nature of the trail, and are easier on the joints for runners, hikers, birders and anyone on foot who simply wants to get out of the concrete jungle and feel that they are in nature in the park. The rustic character of the nature trail would be permanently altered and become a transportation corridor. Parks are primarily for recreation, not transportation.  Clearly this redesign does not serve all users.