Op-Ed: County Parks Director Responds to 'Bike Sunday' Funding Issue

By Jim Nantell 

"The e-mail from Pat Giorni is in response to a Redwood City Patch article regarding the "Citizeninvestor" fund raising effort by the Parks Foundation to raise money for the Bike Sundays on Canada Road.  Some readers have commented that they would not contribute to the effort because the County had pledge to use the net proceeds from the Park Foundation's annual Tour de Peninsula Bike Ride to fund Canada Road Bike Sundays.  Although the final number is not in for this year's Tour the Foundation has not really been able to fund the $10,000 annual commitment for Bike Sundays for the last few years because the event has been basically a break even event.  So the Foundation has included the Bike Sundays as one of the three items to raise money through the "Citizeninvestor" an online fund raising platform.    

For the last few years the Parks department has had to take money from very limited Parks operation budget to fund the Bike Sundays .  The Foundation understands the impact that the lack of funding has and is trying to raising money for Bike Sundays to help avoid the possibility of the Department feeling the need to discontinue Bike Sundays. There is currently no plans to discontinue the Bike Sundays in the near future and a successful Citizeninvestor fund raising can only help protect the program in the future."

Jim Nantell is the Interim Parks Director for San Mateo County

To read the original Patch Speak Out posting, "Keep Canada Road Open for Sunday Cyclists", click here: