Local folks are pointed in the correct direction. Draw a little attention, conduct a few activities and add some new lighting and a space should receive enough buzz to drive some traffic. Apparently not in this case.
Brush Creek itself is a nasty stretch of water. Moss, scum, debris, vehicle parts and recently a full vehicle and loads upon loads of duck and goose dung.
Nasty. Brush Creek Trail, however, has a number of stretches offering peaceful views and unbelievable mind-cleansing sounds in the middle of the city. Fountains, waterfalls and seemingly endless mini-dams.
Where does that land us? An improvement to a water front trail that parallels a filthy, disgusting body of water. Fifty-fifty shot at best of being a destination many might figure. Unfortunately it’s landing on the losing side of the fifty. I’ve been up and down, back and forth along the trail at what I’d consider peak times and disappointed each time.
Outside of a handful (countable on one hand) of people and I’ve not seen anyone on it east of Troost Avenue. Oddly enough that’s the site of the newest section of walkway and several new lights. Reasons: likely many, yet I’ve not lived here long enough to merit much credibility.
Suggestions: Based on experiences I think I’m qualified to offer a few.
My pooch. Along a 3+ mile stretch of this linear trail I ran across zero dog stations. Zero
My thirst. Same stretch, same result.
My power bar wrapper disposal. Same
My safety. Ditto. The designers have done a fairly good job of landscaping common homeless hangouts with steep pitches or jagged stones–sometimes both! Unfortunately a very small number of homeless still occupy some of the space–one who lives right at trail level.
I feel safe but others may not. At one point the trail moves a bit away from the creek and bumps alongside a bus stop where it seems someone is always yelling on the phone while waiting for their ride. A similar bus stop close-by along the Trolley Track Trail consistently has people in it–yet I’ve never heard anyone yelling on their phone.
My feet. Now we’re onto something. Several stretches were filled with fowl dung dense enough on the trail it’s nearly impossible to miss. Who wants to run along a path with that? This reminded me of the situation several years ago around Waterworks Park trails in Des Moines. Solution: round up a bunch (not all, but a sizable percentage) and ship off some and kill the rest and feed to the homeless.
In Tucson I’d run into park/trail maintenance staff multiple times each time out. Every time. Every day of the week at least one trail-staffer was in an ATV trimming, plucking, tossing or otherwise sprucing up things and providing a sense of safety. In the DMV it was wasn’t so common to run into trail staff—every able bodied human seemed to be needlessly guarding something or needlessly patting down someone. It was however, somewhat common to run into actual bike cops making their rounds. Safe.
I ran into an artist yesterday in one of the park areas adjacent to Brush Creek working on an oil-on-canvas. I struck up a conversation and learned much of the Brush Creek Trail space has activities planned the weekend of September 13–in fact her painting is scheduled to be on display and for sale. I’m overly anxiously awaiting next weekend’s festival weekend before I issue a final Brush Creek opinion.