Calling all Floridians - need your support!

[DieselTech]

As a 17 year veteran of the U.S. Army, I have recently been stationed here in West Palm Beach, Florida, about a month ago. It was a long move from NY, for sure.

 

Shortly after arriving here, I located a nice place to rent; a 3 BR/2 BA on 1.25 acres in a "country" setting; off a dirt road, near a park, and very rural for West Palm Beach. I decided one day to take one of my quads out for a ride to scope out the local trails. Keep in mind that I grew up on the West Coast of Florida, and was always able to find places to ride. So, I put on my MX boots, helmet, goggles and gloves and head out.

 

Not far away I was able to find some trails in the woods near a canal, as well as some trails on some empty lots also; I refrain from riding on private land without permission, but obviously others in this area do not. The trails I did ride on were on County property. After about 15 or 20 minutes, I decide to head back to the house, as it is starting to rain. As I leave a trail and come back onto a dirt road, I find a police officer waiting for me. We have a nice discussion (he was very professional and gave me only a warning, after I explained the circumstances), and I was informed that there is no Off-Highway Vehicle use allowed AT ALL on public property within Palm Beach County! Riding is only permitted on private property. The area in which I live (the "acreage" it is called) is also a very large equestrian area (horses), and I have seen people riding their horses all over; this is apparently legal.

 

So I talked with a number of people at the local bike shops, only to discover that there are no riding areas at within Palm Beach County, public or private; the closest areas are easily an hour away. This is not very good at all! I did some research, and found this online petition, which I obviously signed right away. As you can see, there's only 85 signatures, with a goal of 50,000! So I'm trying to spread the word and get some signatures so that maybe something will happen. If you can help out by supporting this cause and sign the petition, that would be great! If you can spread the word to your friends and family, co-workers, online buddies, etc. and encourage them to do the same, even better!

 

Thanks for your support BHQ Members!

[matt1]

The fact horses can ride and atvs cannot sucks. My house is surrounded(3 sides) by a 400+ acre Water management tract. You can ride horses that DESTROY the trails, yet you cannot ride anything motorized. RETARDED! These areas are supposed to be for the public. There is several areas like this close to me that cover several thousand acres of awesome trails that are offlimits.