To the Editor:
Neglect and Vandalism
It is sad to see when someone defaces or destroys a popular public facility: This behavior displays a severe lack of respect for property rights and a disregard of the other people who use a public space. The vandals who destroyed the bike path fencing last week in Fillmore need to be brought to justice. More importantly, they must be educated on the magnitude of the harm they have done. There is no excuse for this behavior.
There is another culprit in this incident: The City of Fillmore. Let me expand. It takes a lot of force to break a new six inch diameter pressure treated post. One would have to run into it with a vehicle. I drove by the bike path the day after it happened: It looked like it was done the previous night, the posts being snapped off by hand or by being kicked. (Perhaps a couple of kids were hopping over the rail and a post broke off, so they decided to "test" the remaining posts.) This indicates the posts were already rotten away at the base. The point is the city needs to pay more attention to the condition of the bike path. These rotten posts were an accident waiting to happen; perhaps resulting in a lawsuit on the city for neglecting to maintain a safe public facility. It took a couple of vandals to get the city to do what it should have done proactively.
Incidentally, I noted that the posts of the bike path are set in concrete. When the bottom of a wooden post is surrounded by concrete, water collects inside the concrete and the wood rots much faster. Properly installed, a 6 inch wooden post will last for decades. I leave the research for proper post setting to the public facilities people.
May God bless the staff and readers of the Fillmore Gazette,
Michael Fechtner