Saw this in the legislation and was wondering about contacting Bentley. Guess we ought to, but you gotta ask yourself why would the state turn down free money?
Robert
Dear CRT Members and CRT Council of Advisors: As
you know, the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) was reauthorized – with
dedicated annual funding of $85 million for the remainder of this year
and Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014 – when the President signed the
transportation reauthorization legislation known as MAP-21 on July 6th.
RTP supporters everywhere should be very proud of that amazing
achievement, which was only made possible by the widespread, visible and
continuous support that the RTP received prior to enactment of the
law. Many, many thanks for your help. The
new legislation does contain one potential roadblock to the
continuation of the RTP at the state level: a provision allowing the
state governors to opt out of the program if they notify the U.S.
Secretary of Transportation of their decision no later than 30 days
before the funds are apportioned. Since the funds will be apportioned on October 1st, any opt-out decisions must be sent to US DOT by September 1st. The
International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has taken the lead
for the CRT and developed a grass-roots campaign to convince every state
governor NOT to opt out of the RTP. IMBA has prepared the attached
letter to be sent individually to each governor that RTP supporters –
organizations, not individuals – from every state will be asked to
sign. Signers will be broken down by state and 50 separate letters will
be prepared. All members of CRT and the CRT Council of Advisors are already included as signers on the letter. However, we need your help to reach out to your grass-roots
contacts, other regional, state and local groups, and any other
organizations that benefit from the RTP to ask them to sign the letters
too. Here are the links to the letter -- http://www.imba.com/form/rtp-sign-letter - http://www.imba.com/form/rtp-sign-letter -- as well as the alert -- http://www.imba.com/alert/ask-your-governor-keep-funding-recreational-trails-program - http://www.imba.com/alert/ask-your-governor-keep-funding-recreational-trails-program -- on the IMBA Web site. Working together, we have come a very long way in our effort to protect the RTP. The target mailing date for the letters is August 10th so we urgently need your all-out help with this last (we hope) hurdle. Thank you very much. Mariane Wesley Fowler and Derrick A. Crandall Co-Chairs, Coalition for Recreational Trails (202) 682-9530 Fax (202) 682-9529 mailto:cahern@funoutdoors.com - cahern@funoutdoors.com
------------- Past President, Rocket City Rock Crawlers Past President, Madison County CERT Association
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