“I got a head full of ideas that are drivin’ me insane.” Bob Dylan, “Maggie’s Farm”
Last week I saw an elderly gentleman on rollerblades cruising effortlessly down Payne Avenue; he was being pulled along by his two dogs in harness that seemed to be having the times of their lives. The last time I’d witnessed such a scene was along San Francisco’s Embarcadero back in the 70s.
The same week I spotted a news story about drone racing in Saudi Arabia, where the first prize was $1 million. The drones whiz around a pylon-marked course at speeds up to 80 miles per hour and the “sport” is gearing up to be “the next big thing.” Drone racing courses are sure to be popping up all over the country in the next few years.
And last year I saw another news item that detailed the arrest of a bunch of young black males on the East Side, for whizzing around city streets on dirt bikes, many of them unlicensed. I myself have witnessed these young daredevils startling the hell out of motorists when I’m out riding my motorcycle.
Now you may be wondering what these three seemingly disparate things have in common. Allow me to enlighten you.
Situated along the banks of a riverbed, running from East 90th Street and Woodland Avenue to the Flats and Broadway Avenue (a distance of over two miles), is Kingsbury Run, a gash in the earth made during the Ice Age. Many people drive nearby this underutilized gem everyday, but few of them realize its even there.
Years ago a baseball diamond was installed (see the tan area in the center-right bottom of the photo) but it’s rarely, if ever, used. The land is simply sitting there.
Here’s my bright idea: This area of land could be turned into a dirt bike course that would keep inner city youth off of the streets (and out of police custody), plus serve as a race course for drones. Additionally, teams of rollerbladers, pulled along by their dogs, could compete while both animals and humans get exercise.
The costs to make the necessary upgrades to the site would be minimal, but the outcomes could be greatly beneficial. Inner city youth need to have a site within their reach to ride and risk breaking their damn fool necks, just like suburban and rural white kids; it goes with being young and foolhardy.
Plus, as drone racing takes off (as it surely will), the area could attract racers from all over the region, and probably from nearby states as well. And I might even hook my two dogs up to harnesses and go rollerblading with them if such a safe area existed. Uh, at my age, probably not!
Anyway, an inexpensive idea like this one, that will serve a great number of people, is the kind that forward-thinking cities jump on and figure out how to do. The question is — is Cleveland forward-thinking enough?
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Fun in Kingsbury Run”
Randall Turner
As always thinking outside the box. Your gift the foresight to see, beyond what most can’t conceive. Keep giving us a vision that one day may provide daylight.