It's Official - Campaign Kickoff 2012!

I've officially kicked off my 2012 campaign for re-election for township supervisor of Northfield.  I picked up my nominating pettition and am collecting signatures.  I have my campaign website all redesigned from the last election and have created a FaceBook presence as a candidate.   You can visit my website here.  I had a technical difficulty getting the site transfered to my domain but it's up and running as of now.  Important dates are; May 15th 2012 candidate filing deadline, August  7th is the primary election and lastly the big contest is November 6th 2012.  Of course, one needs to make it through the primary successfully to continue onto the general election in November.

Well, it's off to the races!

Ribbon Cutting Tomorrow! YAY!

The non motorized path becomes a reality, what started two years ago as a concept and dream takes form and shape and will become a usable form of transportation for pedestrians and bicycles tomorrow.  Phase One of a mile long three year project will be open tomorrow afternoon.  This section will connect the subdivision to the east of the elementary school with the school itself.  In the past a sidewalk ended at woods and the school was 700 feet beyond.  This first phase opens that up and phase two begins next year at the opposite end at Main Street and Barker and continues westward toward the school to the west.  Phase three will follow and connect the two.  Phase three has some existing sidewalk.  When complete pedestrians and bicyclists will have safe passage along some hazardous sections of roadway.  Our second phase crosses an at grade rail crossing, a drain and creek, a freeway exit ramp and a freeway entrance ramp and traverses a bridge under the freeway.  In most instances, travel along this road lands a cyclist or pedestrian in the roadway.  That will be a thing of the past and the passage between downtown and the three main subdivisions and elementary school will be a safe one.  YAY!

Workers have scrambled and worked in the rain for the last three days putting the finishing touches and railings on the elevated deck portions.  More pictures tomorrow of the festivities.

Construction Begins




A sidewalk to no-where ends at wetlands, school is just beyond

  At long last the construction of the very first non motorized path in Northfield Township begins!  Hurray!  The project began with an idea and was realized through opportunity, work and perseverance.  The idea came from need, we didn't have a good pedestrian, non motorized plan or program in place.  We had many good trails nearby but no access to them unless you went by automobile.  Our elementary school had no pedestrian access that was safe, there was a series of stop and start faltering sidewalks and a large segment of the population of the community lived off of that same road, connecting them with the downtown community (shopping, banking, library and post office) was a concern.

Enter in a newspaper article about the County launching a new initiative for grants called "Connecting Communities."  Ahah!  A funding source is born! The concept of a path down Barker Road from Main Street to the Elementary School achieved connecting communities and it is the first step in a plan of interconnecting trails in Northfield Township with surrounding communities to create a network of trails for non motorized transportation to the surrounding region and State.  In Michigan there is a rails to trails path that goes from the west, Lake Michigan, across the entire state to Lake Erie and Lake Huron on the east side of the state.  Major sections of this have alreay been constructed, however many links are missing.  There are gaps in certain areas.  This will put us one step closer to major links in the surrounding communities.

The work part came with taking the idea and conceptual drawings around on a "road show" in the community.  A series of meetings with local groups, clubs and organizations followed seeking their support both in word, letter and deed. I made over a dozen presentations to the schools, chamber of commerce, library, my own board, the DDA, student council, churches, Kiwanis groups and many more.  We asked for financial contributions to help the township and downtown development authority match the grant frunding.  While our government entities posted up the necessary lions share of the matching funds, smaller contributions from these groups demonstrated widespread community support.  We worked hard to gain that and were successful and appreciative of the support we received.

In these economic times it's no easy feat to gain support of a program that, to many could appear frivolous, when there are competing essential needs and services.  Building attractive communities with amenities that offer residents healthier choices and recreational opportunities is a big part of ecconomic development, and in the long run leads to a more vibrant and sustainable community.  Telling that story and educating the populace is a big task.  But it is doable and has been accomplished.  Photos show the before conditions and construction progress.  Completion is anticipated by mid October for Phase I.  The project is multi-year phased and details can be found at this link.  Details, maps and the scope of the project can be found there. 

It's hard to imagine how happy I felt the day work began.

Color me with a BIG SMILE!





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Looking east from the elementary school before

Walsh Road

 

Elevation data taken from MapMyRide

This is a photo of Walsh Road from the book "Dirt Road Washtenaw" by Rob Pulpicher, I have been exploring the wonderful world out of my backdoor on dirt roads throughtout my township and surrounding communities.  Last night I rode this section of Walsh Road and yes it is that steep.  The ride back was challenging, however there are dozens of rolling hills like this along the route I took.  Last night I rode west on Barker to Merrill, south to Walsh and west to Mast and returned.  It was 10 miles of roller coaster hills and beautiful countryside. The ride took me through portions of Northfield and Webster Townships.

Riding The Width Of The Township

We've had a break in the heatwave, at least for now.  Who would've thunk that I'd ever think the mid to upper 80's were a cool off?  It was a relief to walk or ride outside without it feeling like it was stifiling, even mid day it was noticably more tolerable by far.  It had been cloudy much of the day and the sun brought out evening humidity, but riding was in the cards and it was a great ride, albeit a sweaty one.

I rode the back roads for the width of the township tonight.  For those unaware townships are laid out 6 miles by 6 miles.  Without the benefit of straight roads the ride was a bit over 14 miles.  It's a great way to wrap a week of riding with a total this week of 48.5 miles in 5 days of riding. 

Health wise I have seldom felt better in a very long time.  I'm feeling very strong and energetic.  My shortness of breath is all but gone, the only time I had that was in hills or sprinting away from the deer flies which were maddening in places tonight.  I'd sprayed myself before I left but next time I'll really lay it on thick.  Those pesky things really distract from the serene beauty and quiet of these backroads.  Most of what I road was pastoral except for a portion on the way to the longest  dirt east west road. That portion travels on a pretty winding high speed road with no bike lane or paved shoulder.  The rest was on dirt roads and they were nearly empty for miles on end. I am surrounded by beautiful countryside and it just takes getting off the main paved roads and onto the dirt roads to experience this.  Amazing what awaits out your back door.

If I didn't rediscover the love of biking, I wouldn't know this existed.  Lucky me!