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Path to Nowhere?

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"It's been there almost a year and a half…I don't see any evidence that it's ever going to wash away," Atkinson says.

Olson supports his logic.

"We've tried to build them as close to city and federal guidelines as possible, but we don't have to because we're not using federal money," she says. "When you use private funds, you don't have to be so exact."

But safety concerns are coloring the debate over the trails' future.

Critics have been wrestling with TxDOT and the city for months, complaining that Atkinson's pathway decisions at the eastern portion of the trail would make it more difficult to see oncoming traffic on Runnels Street. Nearby, an incomplete trail portion running directly under a series of power lines close to Farris's neighborhood park is stalled in legal limbo.

And late last month, state Representative Jessica Farrar stepped into the fray. Warning of serious hazards, she urged state transportation officials to keep Atkinson from proceeding with his bike-path plans at Runnels.

With so many potential headaches involved, a key question remains about who will take over liability and maintenance responsibilities.

The nonprofit, which has been unsuccessful in getting the city to agree to assume responsibility of the trails, is gathering the easements itself for a planned public opening next month.

Olson says the city parks department doesn't have the money to take over the trails. City of Houston bikeway coordinator Lilibeth Andre says that the city requested engineering designs from the partnership to consider the possibility. However, to date, no plans have been submitted. ("She's never asked me for any engineering plans," Olson says.)

Meanwhile, a TxDOT engineer working on other city trails that will link with the partnership's offers another possible spin on city sentiment.

"I don't think they're going to take over 'em. I think they're afraid of the liability," says Mark Patterson, who works in TxDOT's contracts division. "They really don't meet all the design criteria for a bicycle path -- or a sidewalk, for that matter."

One local businessman knowledgeable about the project , who asked that his name not be used, goes a step further in his criticism. "They're just doing a 21st-century snow job for promoting real estate development on the bayou. That's all it is."

Farris can't help but notice the changes on the bayou as he patiently mows the grass at James Bute Park and visits with the park's neighbors: homeless residents whom development eventually will shuffle along.

"Alan basically attempted to bully other people by pouring his concrete first," Farris says. "Thirteen years ago this was an ethical program with the community's interest at heart…Now they're getting a completely different product altogether. These trails are not even likely to last."

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