Who's Minding The Trail?

Reshuffling Of Police Officers, Parks Job Cuts Diminish Gwynns Falls Supervision

"That trail is utilized by a lot of people and should be a priority for protection," said Marty Howe, president of the Southwest District Police Community Relations Council. "If in fact they're not there, they should be."

Meanwhile, the two city employees who work at the trail are set to be laid off Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks acknowledged that the programming at the parks may suffer, but the department said it will continue to maintain the trails. The acting chief of parks plans to meet with concerned citizens in the near future, said spokeswoman Michelle Speaks-March.

As of Tuesday, park rangers, who worked out of an office at Carroll Park, now originate from the Leakin Park trail office, and Speaks-March said they will ride the trail at least once a day and report needs of the trail to the assistant park manager. The Recreation and Parks Department will continue to promote the use of the trail, but will not have a dedicated staff member.

Eberhart said he's not confident about the department's proposed fixes. "In my opinion, the parks department never seemed to know how to deal with the trail," he said.

Orser said volunteers expect they'll have to pick up most of the slack, and wonder what authority they will have to tackle problems that they see. Can they give the OK to classes of city schoolchildren to come to the park for science experiments? Do they have the authority to ask an ice cream truck driver without a permit to move?

"That's a lot of trail for nobody to be in charge," Eberhart said.