Panthers Take A Stand: student athletes save a fire trail
On Sept. 10, the City Council of Palos Verdes Estates addressed a proposal to change the Paseo Del Sol Fire Trail into a set of goat steps, which would have made jogging on the trail difficult. The proposal was met with strong opposition from some Peninsula runners and residents of Palos Verdes Estates.
“I’ve run on this trail for much more than my four years of high school, and it represents the Palos Verdes community because of the diversity of people who go to experience the view,” senior cross-country captain Davis Quan said. “Someone trying to close that down is going against the Palos Verdes lifestyle and state of mind.”
Quan and approximately 50 other cross-country runners wrote letters to the Parklands Committee of Palos Verdes Estates to protest the closing of the trail, which the team uses frequently for training purposes.
“The [fact] that [Peninsula’s] cross country [team] weighed in with 50 to 60 letters boiling down to what the fire road meant to them was very instrumental in defining how this application didn’t work,” Carl Mortiz said, the urban forester for the city of Palos Verdes Estates.
The members of the cross country team tried their best to ensure their beloved trail stayed accessible to the general public, and went to the meeting on Sept. 10 to support their goal. In attendance were professional tri-athlete and boys cross country coach, Chris Foster, members of the cross country team as well as residents and people who use the trail just as frequently. The opposition to the change was so strong that a unanimous decision was made to deny the plan and keep the Paseo Del Sol Fire Trail open to the general public with no changes.
“If the proposal had gone in the way of the [adjacent] homeowners, the trail would have become nearly [impossible to run on], and it would have rerouted my team onto Via Del Monte which is a horrible road for running on.” Foster said. “I’m happy [because] I think it showed how many people love that fire trail and how many people love running in Palos Verdes.”
