As a follow up to a meeting in the Mayagüez regional office the prior week, Surfrider was invited to San Juan on December 4, 2007 to meet with Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) officials regarding the proposed Rincón bicycle trail. The meeting was well attended and included the Executive Director of the Highway Authority (ACT) José E. Hernández Borges.
At the meeting, DTOP’s Thelma Valenzuela Sanchez outlined some changes that DTOP intends to ask the architects to make to the plan. Some of these changes, like the elimination of gabions, were a direct result of community outcry. Other changes, like the addition of kiosks, were requested by Rincon’s mayor Carlos López.
While the potential modifications are a step in the right direction, the plans still include a number of seawalls at Domes, Tres Palmas and the Balneario. The overall scale of the project remains vastly overbuilt with minimum pavement widths of 12 feet.
In addition to the documented changes, DTOP officials also agreed to review the placement of the path heading south at Steps Beach and at Marias.
The future maintenance of the path was discussed at the meeting. ACT Executive Director José E. Hernández Borges indicated that while the municipality of Rincón would be responsible for maintenance, there is currently no proposed budget or forecast of the costs required. In a prior meeting, Mayor Carlos López had requested the addition of kiosks that would be leased to help off-set the cost of maintenance. Additionally, DTOP officials indicated that there are no projections for number of users or potential tourism revenue generated by the project.
Surfrider and other members of the community will continue to implore DTOP to make the additional changes necessary to improve the plan and minimize the impact it will have on our local environment. The elimination of seawalls is a priority as coastal armoring will inevitably result in beach loss.
The meeting was attended by:
José E. Hernández Borges – ACT Executive Director
Thelma Valenzuela Sanchez – ACT/DTOP Oficina de Patrimonio Cultural
Julio C. Rodriguez – ACT Oficina de Estudios Ambientales
Dennisse Luciano Collazo – ACT Construcción Región Oeste
Felix Rodriguez Soto – FHWA
Eugenio Fernandez – EFE Arquitectos (Architect)
José L. Torres – FHWA
Jorge A. Ramos Vélez – ACT Región Oeste
Daisy Ramos Pitre - DTOP Oficina Ing. y Agrimensura
Edwin Rivera Malavé - DTOP Oficina Ing. y Agrimensura
Annette Blasini – Surfrider Foundation
Leon Richter – Surfrider Foundation
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im recently residing in rincon and ran into i guess you would say the chairman or president of surfrider in rincon, pr. I know it was him because i had attended the meeting that was held in the rincon a few weeks back which he had spoken at. Also i was formally introduced to him as well but i guess he dosent remember upon me approaching him recently (ill get back to this later). The guy was all screaming into the microphone and of course, the local gringo were all cheering him on, so typical of the Americans. He could have done in a more sophistacated way.And while this was happening i was observing the local boriquens who all seemed disgusted by this act. all i have to say is that upon trying to approach him to talk about the bike path project a few nights ago, the dorky curly hair out of shaped dweeb brushed me off like i was nobody special to him and tried to protray himself of being like he was to cool to talk to me, but in reality he is over 30 years of age and who acts like an immature highscooler. Grow out of it bra. Its almost like a popularity contest in rincon where as i call the local gringo "RINGOS" who are over the age of maturity but still act like highschool students. How has surfrider let some dweeb like the one i try to have a friendly conversation with run surfrider in puerto rico. and also, with so many puerto rico surfers around, who im sure is way more intelligent and maturer than this smoe, they are the ones who should be representing surfrider puerto rico chapter. Not some ringo who moved here from the states who thinks he's local and acts like a teenager. IF you are reading this you HERB, you are a grown ass man so act like one. Also what do the locals in rincon want. Ive been living here for a few months now and have talked to some of them about the proposed path. Majority of them where really excited about it but didn't know about the meeting to hear both sides of the story. How about the children and the locals who would benefit from the path? it would give them something to do during the daytime. An extra activity if you will. Dont just destroy the plan all together. try and work together and not against each other. there is aways a way to make something happen with both sides being satisfied. to end my blog i would like to say that surfrider is a great thing but the smoe who is in charge of the rincon division should be impeached. We surfers have no time for the "to cool to go to school" types because in reality if you want to be treated like adults than you have to act like one.
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