NORTH BAY BOH EMI A N | MAR C H 1 2-1 8 , 20 14 | BO H E M I AN.COM
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BOHEMIAN
Rhapsodies Ride the Rails
Supreme Court ruling puts bike trail projects in jeopardy BY TOM GOGOLA
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orth Bay bicyclists take note: a Supreme Court ruling this week may affect area bike trails created under “rails to trails” initiatives that reclaimed abandoned rail-beds and easements and turned them into recreational corridors.
On Monday, the court ruled 8–1 in favor of a landowner in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust et al v. United States. At issue in Brandt was a Wyoming landowner whose property is crossed by a nowabandoned Pacific Railroad Company rail line that goes on for several dozen miles. The 1875 General Railroad Right-of-Way Act sought to retain the government’s “reversionary interest” in land under rail-beds and easements. Brandt sued the federal government to stop a proposed extension of a rail-trail through his property. He lost in appellate court but found favor with the Roberts Court. Chief Justice John Roberts posed the pivotal question in his majority opinion: “When the railroad abandons land granted under the 1875 act, does it go to the Government, or to the private party who acquired the land underlying the right of way?” The court said ownership should revert to the landowner. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed the lone dissenting opinion. “By changing course today, the Court undermines the legality of thousands of miles of former rights of way that the public now enjoys as means of transportation and recreation. These former rail corridors are public assets in which we all share and benefit.” Residents here know that. The Washington, D.C.–based Rails to Trails Conservancy turned its attention to Sonoma County in November 2009 when it named the West County and Joe Rodota trails its “Trail of the Month.” It noted that the more urbanized Joe Rodota Trail backs up onto numerous businesses and backyards. In a statement, the conservancy said the Supreme Court ruling threatens existing rail-trails, “mainly in the West, that utilize federally granted rightsof-way.” Sotomayor warned that the court’s ruling opens the door to landowners along rail-trails whose financial interest in making a property claim may trump public-interest altruism. Citing a Justice Department study, Sotomayor wrote, “Lawsuits challenging the conversion of former rails to recreational trails alone may well cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.” Tom Gogola is contributing editor at the ‘Bohemian.’ Open Mic is a weekly feature in the ‘Bohemian.’ We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write openmic@bohemian.com.
Where Do They Go?
What I find difficult to understand is, if there are no prisons (“Imagine No Prisons,” March 5), then what do we do with all of the thousands of people who commit serious, violent crimes each year? Are they just scolded and set free to go back out on the streets and repeat their crimes? Just let them be and go back out and continue to kill, rape, pillage and steal? I am confused about Steve Martinot’s position on this.
TRENT ANDERSON Novato
Bee Correct Thank you for giving the honeybees some attention (“The Hive Minders,” Feb. 26). The article, on the whole, was very good. There were some errors I would like to see corrected. It is not true that “without the honeybee, we’d be eating a diet, basically, of oat gruel.” Many things are pollinated by wind and other insects. We would see a limited amount of some of our favorite fruits and vegetables, that is true. For example, walnuts and grapes are windpollinated. Bumblebees are the insects that pollinate tomatoes. If a mouse should enter a beehive and die in it, the bees would encase the dead mouse in propolis, not wax. Propolis is a wonderful substance the bees gather from the sap of trees on their back legs. It is a great sanitizer, and also works as weather stripping for the hive. The queen is surrounded by the females who feed her and groom her all day and night. The males are not part of the queen’s helpers. They are called drones and do nothing but mate with her, as the author correctly states later. The Sonoma County Beekeepers’ Association meets monthly, not
bimonthly. I was sorry you did not include the association’s web site in the article, as it has a lot of good information about bees and even has an extensive list of plants that are beneficial to their survival. The website is www.sonomabees.org.
ETTAMARIE PETERSON, SCBA PRESIDENT Petaluma
Waiting for the Worms Appreciated your article on bees (“The Hive Minders,” Feb. 26), with some hopeful signs. However, I’ve been wondering about a possible decline in earthworms. Years ago I remember seeing hundreds of them all over this area after a good rain, not so much in the past few years. I’ve not found anything on the internet on the subject.
JAN PRATER Santa Rosa
Participatory Democracy I appreciate a fellow Democrat’s point (Open Mic, March 5), but nothing changes the fact that in this case a vote for the Farm Bill was in fact a vote to cut SNAP. Yes, “balance and tough decisions need to be made,” and sure, you can dismiss criticism of the yes vote as arm-chair quarterbacking if you like. I would call it participatory democracy: holding our representatives accountable for their votes (or lack thereof). Everyone in the House voting on this bill had to make those tough decisions referred to. Yet George Miller, Henry Waxman, Barbara Lee, Anna Eschoo, Maxine Waters and a host of other Democrats voted against the bill, with many of them having gone on record about the SNAP cuts being a primary factor for the direction of their vote. Standing against SNAP cuts was always a principled stand to vote against budget cuts made on the backs of the