Second Class Citizen, Redux

OK, I actually did call the city and was directed to the "Rights of Way" department and spoke with "Tom," who agreed the situation on the commuter trail was a problem. He said he'd look into it.

On my way home, when I encountered the penned in area, I noticed they had fastened my previous exit point (which I was now attempting to enter) to a steel railing by the river's edge (mental note to self: bring a knife tomorrow). With my original plan thwarted, I stepped over/through the orange construction fence. There were no work vehicles within, and no construction was being done. Some band was playing across the river at Harriet Island, and it appeared they were still setting up for Taste of Minnesota.

I rode through the quarantine zone to the other side when I noticed another biker from the other direction sizing up his options. He cut through the area I was planning to exit when out of nowhere a security guard approached and yelled that he couldn't enter. I approached the guard and asked him why they couldn't have left the bike path clear. He replied that it made too much sense. He then went on to ask, "Shouldn't bikes be using the road anyway?" I explained that there was no way to the other side of the median and that it was extremely dangerous to ride against traffic- particularly on that stretch that has no shoulder and has a posted limit of 50mph (or maybe it is 45). Anyway, he was quite pleasant.

While riding away I recalled the sign at the other end referencing "Parking Lot Closed, June 29 - July 6"- even though the fenced area certainly exceeded the lot. Perhaps they were only trying to prevent people from parking there during the Taste of Minnesota across the river. At any rate, at present they are unnecessarily blocking access to a bike path without providing any safe detour. And there is yet to be a visible reason for such obstruction. They will need to do better than that before I respect their fence.