gun shots flying on the Schuylkill River Trail

yes, gun shots were fired last week when a cyclist and a few folks met up at the famed Norristown location on the trail, the cyclist has been arrested for murder charges

it was discoverd that the person being shot at ( age 17) was running a chop shop for bikes and had apparently stolen lots of bikes from people on the trail, it was guessed he was stealing bikes from other young kids based on the Mongoose brand name

but what can be done??

the Montgomery county DA, Risa Vetri Ferman, who herself was accosted on the trail, is getting more involved in stepping up safety, she is suggesting surveillance cameras and other avenues to help this situation

Phila Bike Works and some bike clubs are working on trying to get kids in Norristown involved in biking hoping this addresses the problem

while this is a fabulous idea, and i support it wholeheartedly I am not sure it is addressing this problem

not sure if the target audience for going to a bike rodeo or learning how to fix bikes is the same audience that is harassing folks on the trail

but nonetheless, every angle has to be tried and something surely needs to be done to address this safety issue

to contact the Montgomery County DA's office, http://da.montcopa.org/da/cwp/view,a,1494,q,38396,daNav,|.asp


riding early morning hourse on the SRT is probably your best bet, not sure if the kids will be up at 8 am and at the trail, but ya never know

bike in groups is another suggestion

but stay safe and keep alert, carry a cell phone and call 911 immediately if a problem occurs

Yippeeeeeee

Starting on April 4th at 7am, MLK Drive will close to vehicular traffic on weekend days until 5pm. The lower end of the King Drive, from Eakins Oval to Sweetbriar Cut-Off, re-opens to vehicular traffic each weekend day at 12 noon.

In order to plan your weekend rides, here are the 2009 events scheduled for MLK Drive and Kelly Drive .

Fairmount Park will be posting these on their website in the next few days. Keep checking http://www.fairmountpark.org/MLK_Closure.asp