Apparently the City of Bismarck once again that someone having fun within their domain could not be tolerated, and went after Midwest Motor Express. They claimed that MME was operating a “racetrack” in violation of City Ordinance 14-02-03.
This trail obviously falls within the definition of a recreational trail, not a race track, and thankfully the court saw this as well. John Roswick of MME emailed me the court’s decision in PDF format. He has given me permission to link to the PDF, since it’s a matter of public record: click here to view.
I suppose I’m still smarting from what the City did back when they redid Sertoma Park. The sandbars used to be filled with people having a good time, and the road through Sertoma was a common place to see people cruising around during the summer. Parking was ample, and people would park along the road to walk to the sandbar. There were football and volleyball games, sunbathing, swimming, and tons of other activities on the sandbars. Then the City came along. I have no doubts that busting up all the activity on the sandbars was a reason for the park’s new configuration, and the new Sertoma Park made getting to the sandbar a hassle. Thus all those pesky kids and their fun-havin’ were forced to go somewhere else. And they did.
This also brings up the issue of the City trying to flex its muscles outside of the normal city limits. I don’t know if MME currently resides in city limits, but in North Dakota the cities have say in what goes on for miles outside their legal boundaries! How a county resident can get hassled by representatives of a city government in which he has NO representation or right to vote is beyond me. Hopefully there won’t be a long line of people like MME, who is simply trying to serve a segment of community, who get hassled by government policy-pushers looking to flex their political muscle.