I, John Linderman, am the owner of the friendsofbrightwood.org domain. I live a couple blocks from Brightwood Park. I walk past the Park almost every day and I often walk into it. You don't have to go very far into the Park before the sound of leaf blowers is overtaken by the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves. If you're not in a hurry -- and Brightwood Park is a good place to not be in a hurry -- you can plunk down on a bench and listen to the birds and the bullfrogs. If you're lucky, you might spot a heron who has quite a different interest in the bullfrogs. You could encounter a jogger, or a dog walker, or a stroller, perhaps the kind that wears comfortable shoes, perhaps the kind with wheels and a baby on board.
Neither I nor the people who have registered here own Brightwood Park. The Park is owned by Westfield, which is a tiny bit unfortunate since it borders Scotch Plains too. Scotch Plains residents don't elect Westfield town officials, so they have less influence over the Park owners than Westfield residents do. But anyone who enjoys the quiet, unspoiled nature of the Park is welcome to this website, and our Westfield members can nudge our officials when the occasions arise. The creation of this website was occasioned by discussions of inviting a state-wide off-road biking association, JORBA, to create and maintain off-road bike trails in the Park. You can find out more about this elsewhere on this site. It was something that I, and many of the neighbors we contacted, felt would adversely affect the Park and the neighborhood. Most of the registrants of this website signed on because they agreed. You can see a letter I wrote to the July 2 2020 issue of the Westfield Leader here But this is not a single-issue DON'T TOUCH OUR PARK website. We're interested in changing the Park by helping to get rid of invasive species, enhancing learning about nature and the history of Westfield, and maybe doing some fund raising to assist the Town in paying for improvements. We're very much sympathetic to calls for making the greater Westfield area more bicycle friendly and safe for all cyclists.
7 Comments
andrew stillufsen
9/2/2020 03:07:59 pm
Stop the blatant falsehoods on this site. Riding bikes on trails has ALWAYS been permitted at Brightwood, and has been a welcomed activity from before the current park was built. The current proposal only calls for expanding and improving the existing trail network by a group of Westfield volunteers. Win-Win for the park and users.
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Jeff Swanson
9/3/2020 01:56:31 pm
It's difficult to imagine the kind of selfishness and self righteousness one requires to be against expanding access to nature for our children. People like you and your disciples continue to deny access to playgrounds and other public parks to our children so that you may benefit. You cite reasons such as safety and liability, and absoluteness of each, driving our children to their basements to be confined to video games. Your views serve yourselves and are not representative of a path toward a greater good; and I fear you will never be able to recognize that.
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jpl
9/4/2020 11:28:47 am
Let's get the record straight. Our kids played in Brightwood, too. They sometimes played there on bikes, ordinary street bikes, nothing fancy. Walkers have co-existed with cyclists in Brightwood for decades.
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9/9/2020 10:55:01 pm
Mr. Linderman, I think what you see in the replies are people reacting to level of misinformation or misunderstandings contained within this site. So lets cover a few things.
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Jeff Swanson
9/8/2020 07:28:29 pm
Actually, civil and respectful discourse would be preferred, unfortunately I fear the hidden and true motivation behind this movement is to ban bicycles from Brightwood Park entirely, as was done and recently reaffirmed in Watchung. You state you had an encounter with a bicycle rider wherein you perceived it to be loud and disturbing of nature. Somehow, your followers feel bicycling in the park will decrease home values in surrounding areas. Maybe some people need a safe space and someone else to blame for their issues - frankly, I cannot find a logical reason to not improve the trails in Brightwood Park; the argument herein is clearly fueled by emotion, not reason. I've read mention of a "few errant mountain bikers" riding off trails and wrecking the park - an argument used in keeping bicycles out of Watchung. Let's apply the same logic to, let's say, drunk driving? Did we choose to eliminate driving cars on roads altogether because some people drove drunk, or did we find ways to discourage the behavior and hold wrongdoers accountable? Why ban bicycles - is it the easy button?
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Richard Griggs
9/14/2020 10:39:26 am
Please keep me on your "mailing" list.I am a life long resident of Westfield .I think my interests in the Brightwood Park are in line with yours.
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Claudia Cuca
5/5/2021 01:07:35 pm
Hi JPL,
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AuthorsJohn Linderman, Tom Mann, Nicole Chartrain, Denise Ricci Archives
December 2022
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LocationBrightwood Park is on the North end of Prospect Street. Go past Franklin School and look for the entrance on the left.
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