SABR : Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes

Durham on Road to Nowhere

Wagon Track Trail Killed by Durham Town Council

Aug 19, 2003

In a shameful display of pandering to special interests instead of protecting the public good, the Durham Town Council, by a vote of 4-3, threw away $250,000 in Federal Transportation money and nine years of transportation planning in order to keep a very small group of property owners happy when they killed the Durham/Madbury Wagon Track Trail Project on Monday night.

The debate in the Durham Town Council was dominated by mischaracterizations and the omission of key facts. The town weenie - Tod Selig - usually an extremely competent individual, was unable to get some of the most basic facts correct. When asked for a breakdown of the cost of the project he could not recall, despite extensive documentation, that:

1. SABR had already spent over $9,000 on the initial survey of the Wagon Track;

2. The UNH Office of Sustainability programs had committed $10,000 to the project,

3. SABR had committed an additional $6,000 to the project; and

4. Madbury had already spent $6,000 on the project.

That is a $31,000 omission in a critical discussion.

John Kraus - a self proclaimed cyclists because he waddles about a mile into the university on his bicycle - had about as many facts straight as "there is no ozone hole" Rush Limbaugh. He showed pictures of bicycle swallowing mires that extended the entire width of the 15 foot wide Wagon Track Road, indicated there were several of these on the road, and then proclaimed that the route was easy to ride! Then, in a display of fuzzy math that even President Bush would have been impressed with, he changed a $335,000 project (with a local 20% match of $67,000 of which $31,000 had already been raised) into a $500,000 project that would require Durham to spend $250,000! You would think a fiscally conservative man with a PhD could at least get some basic math right. But not John "I guess the facts don't matter" Kraus.

His riding partner on the town council, Mal "I support bike paths but still want your children to ride on Route 4" Sandberg (council chair and chief intimidator) did his part to railroad the vote to kill the project by restricting the nature of the amendments to suit his own purposes. In a clear disregard for the democratic process, Sandberg reversed the initial vote when he did not get the result he wanted. Then, after making sure he had lined up the necessary support, he called for a second illegal vote.

This description could go on but you can watch this all for yourself. SABR will get a hold of the video of the town council in action on Monday 18 August and will post the more illuminating sections on our web page. Stay tuned.

What next? SABR will regroup and after consulting our lawyer, we will map out a course of action. One thing is clear - Durahm cannot be allowed to throw away nine years of careful and thoughtful transportation planning without a fight. The gloves are off and a fight is brewing.

WHAT CAN YOU DO:

Call or e-mail the following individuals to express your outrage:

Mal "your kids can ride on Route 4 for all I care" Sandberg: 603-868-5211

John "who cares about the facts, I'm just right" Kraus: 603-868-1929 j_kraus@unhn.unh.edu

Todd "I'll do whatever mal says" Selig: 603-868-5571 administrator@ci.durham.nh.us

Fosters Wagon Track Newspaper Article Wed 20 Aug 2003.