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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

Steve Fiala
Steve Fiala promotes trails as a means of transportation as well as a source of recreation. (Photo: Joyce Benna)
November 2002

David Tannehill Special Employee Award:
Steve Fiala, East Bay Regional Park District The next time you walk, bike or ride a horse along the Iron Horse Trail, the Delta de Anza Trail, the San Francisco Bay Trail or the Bay Area Ridge Trail, say a small thank you to East Bay Regional Park District employee Steve Fiala, this year’s recipient of the David Tannehill Special Employee Award. These refreshing and breathtaking routes are treasures along a 150-mile regional trail system in the East Bay that has blossomed due in no small part to Fiala’s instrumental efforts.

As Trails Development Program Manager for the Park District, Fiala serves as a liaison to other public agencies, obtains rights of way for trails, and oversees trail design and funding. He promotes trails as a means of transportation as well as a source of recreation.

“We did a study on the Ironhorse Trail, and 36 percent of the people said they were using it for transportation purposes,” said Fiala, a Park District employee in a variety of capacities since 1979. “They were heading to work, to shop, to school, to see friends.”

“Steve Fiala has been able to demonstrate the public benefits of trails in a positive manner, convincing even the most skeptical of their value,” said Jamie Perkins, also with the Park District. “He is a totally dedicated professional and an enthusiastic and articulate advocate of trails, public access, parks and open space,” echoed colleague Janet McBride, Bay Trail project manager for the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The Special Employee Award this year was named in honor of David Tannehill, a longtime MTC planner who passed away in late 2001. Honoring Fiala as the first recipient of the Tannehill award is especially fitting since Tannehill enjoyed running on the trails in his free time.

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