A group of Berkeley teens are rallying together to save a mountain bike course they built during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city wants to remove it due to safety concerns.
It’s a pandemic-year project that helped the group escape from online school, social distancing and shutdowns. They refer to the beloved bike course near Tilden Regional Park as "The Jumps." The group is made up of mostly sophomores from Berkeley High School, as reported by Berkeleyside.
The city has posted notices saying the bike jumps and accompanying gathering place will be removed, but Berkeley City Councilmember Susan Wengraf got it postponed to hear the boys out. "The viability was just too great, especially moving into high fire season," she said.
Wengraf said "The Jumps" are located in a very high-risk fire zone on a steep hillside, bordered by a few homes, making it a safety concern.
"I agree that this is a healthy way for these kids to be spending their time," she told KCBS Radio. "That’s not the issue. The issue is if it’s a safe place for them to be doing it."
The boys have launched an online petition to make "The Jumps" legal, a campaign that’s gained traction online with almost 1,800 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. Wengraf said that with a shortage of mountain biking areas in Berkeley, the piece of land should be celebrated, not taken down.
In an email response to Berkeleyside, a city spokesperson wrote that the area is "an unimproved 40 foot wide city right of way that is being used as a dirt hiking/biking path...It’s been used as a hiking trail for residents and provides some limited fire access. What’s been happening there is an (un)authorized use of the property and the city is evaluating whether and under what conditions it should be allowed to continue."
The teens, their parents and city leaders are scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss next steps.
