Anonymous on 5/29/2023 8:39:32 AM:
As Paul Harvey would have said, "Now for the rest of the story."
From MO Bike Fed article May 27, 2023:
AND WHAT WENT WRONG
The short and simple answer is: Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough of Springfield.
Both in 2022 and 2023, Senator Lincoln Hough of Springfield has been the key opponent of Rock Island Trail funding. In 2022, Hough was vice-chair of the Appropriations Committee and had the ear of the committee chair. In 2023, Hough was named chair of the committee, where is voice is even stronger.
Hough is personal friends with members of the key family who opposes development of Rock Island Trail State Park, and members of the family have made campaign contributions to Hough's campaign committee. If you search the July 15, 2022 "Friends Of Lincoln Hough campaign committee contributions report (local copy), it is pretty clear exactly who the family is.
THE GOOD NEWS: OPPOSITION FROM A FEW WEALTHY, POWERFUL INDIVIDUALS IS UNFORTUNATE, BUT HAVING LITTLE LONG-TERM AFFECT ON ROCK ISLAND TRAIL PLANS AND DEVELOPMENT
The good news is, the Rock Island Trail corridor is still owned by State Parks and that will not be changing any time soon.
The dynamic that is going on right now is that a few very wealthy and influential property owners along the corridor are throwing their weight around by giving significant contributions to key budget leaders and hiring lobbyists to throw a monkey wrench into progress for the trail whenever they can.
And the Missouri Farm Bureau - which earlier on opposed the trail but was keeping a low profile about it - has gained new leadership that has recently become far more active in their opposition to the trail.