more fences in berkeley??

COB bought the “Drill track” in June07 (from the web site:

"On June 26, 2007, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to adopt an Ordinance authorizing the
City Manager to execute all necessary documents required to purchase the real property known as the
9th Street Drill Track in southwest Berkeley from the Union Pacific Railroad Company for an amount not
to exceed $3,008,590" for the “subsequent construction of a bicycle path”) This section of The old UPR spur tracks links the Emeryville /doyle St greenway (a class 1 bikepath) and Berkeley's 9th street bicycle Blvd as part of a Oakland/emeryville/Berkeley/Albany bicycle corridor. Although Unfinished, this path has been widely used for years by cyclist's, strollers and dog walkers alike. Now, If one wishes to continue along to the next section of the greenway, instead the 200-foot path a 1/4 mile detour to either san pablo ave to the east or seventh st to the west is necessary (perhaps not as inconvenient as getting caught in a UC dorm or sports facility during a big earthquake-ouch!!). I talked with a fire dept. entity (subsequently identified as David Ort head of BFD enforcement) as he was polishing up the "no trespassing private property" signs festooned on the barrier and asked him what's up with the blocked bike path.
"This is private property!!" he snarled. Uh, is city (publicly owned) property "private"?? Then I asked him if the bike way would open again. "maybe in a couple years" was the venomous hiss in reply. Why the fuck is BFD involved in blocking bike paths you might ask?? BFD is planning a huge warehouse on this section of the tracks and it looks like they are also planning to ditch the bike path/greenway entirely (the plans for this building have not been made public although there is “a notice of exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act for the purchase and subsequent construction a Fire Department warehouse on the property.”). A response to the illegal dumping in the area?? There are plenty of places to illegal dump. Perhaps this preemptive land grab is to assess if there will be any public objection to poleaxing the proposed path project?? Anyway, I would suggest everyone to check out this affront to cycling, dog walking and freedom in general. I would also urge everyone that walks or bikes along this route or cares about rogue city agencies fencing off designated Community Open Spaces to call the city and ask that they reopen this space to foot and bike traffic with motorized vehicle prevention barriers. The dumpers won’t be able to drive their trucks in and the
Determined dumpers will just chuck it over the fence
Or dump it on YOUR street anyway...
How much DOES it cost to put up a fence to block a bikeway anyway??
FREE OUR GREENWAY!!!