The proposed location for the track directly abuts the neighborhood, yet residents said they were never included in discussions about the proposal. There wasn’t a single community meeting, as there had been in Garden Valley on the park’s opposite side. Residents lashed out at Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland and members of Frank Jackson’s administration. They felt insulted by efforts to justify the project after it had already been approved (narrowly and questionably) in City Council.
“Nobody here wants to hear it,” said resident Scott Denham, when Community Relations Director Blaine Griffin asked if he could make a presentation on behalf of the city. (Some of Denham’s remarks were captured by Cleveland.com.)
Denham kicked off what would be heated back-and-forths between residents and both Griffin and Michael Cox, the city’s director of public works. They tried to present the proposal but were repeatedly interrupted by neighbors with questions and complaints.
The concerns were familiar to those who have been following the issue: For low-income youth interested in dirt bikes, how will they afford to participate? One resident asked. Others asked about noise levels and potential violence. Former mayoral candidate Ja’Ovvoni Garrison asked about upkeep costs: given that the city has never run a dirt-bike track, are officials aware of how much it costs to maintain? A common concern was the ability to enforce a city rule that riders must transport their dirt bikes to the track in another vehicle. Griffin said the city would be presenting a new plan to deal with dirt bike riders in the streets soon.
Furthermore, the city reps reiterated the idea that the track was as much about job training as it was about recreation. A component of the park will be a garage where youth and young adults can learn about small engine repair. Johnnie Burton, who already repairs dirt bikes and who started a foundation to teach bike maintenance to youth, was in attendance.
Seated alongside residents, he argued in support of the project, saying that the park sent a message to youth that there was more to life than “being hard.”
While some residents sympathized with that idea — some even said they supported a project like this in principle — they wondered why it was being placed so close to residential neighborhoods. Why not even up the road in the Industrial Valley? Why not along the Opportunity Corridor, where there might be room to expand? One asked if residents in Garden Valley honestly were in support of the project, as Phyllis Cleveland said.
“People in Garden Valley would rather hear a dirt bike than an Uzi,” offered Johnnie Burton in reply.
Phyllis Cleveland took the blame for the city’s failure to reach out to residents during the planning phases.
“That was an oversight on my part,” she said early on.
Indeed, and it’s the regularity with which the administration has made similar oversights that’s pushing residents toward outrage. Some of the complaints Thursday were ugly and racially charged — Denham, for instance, threatened to shoot or run over riders; one woman suggested that “decent children” wouldn’t be participating in these activities — but most of them were perfectly legitimate. (Allison Denham said, in a later interview, that her husband Scott’s remarks weren’t intended to have any racial undertones at all. They were directed not at the park, but at the riders in the street.)
Many of the residents might even have been in support of a similar project if they’d been permitted to weigh in or offer alternatives. As it stands, it’s clear that Mayor Jackson’s project, however well-intentioned, is reviled in North Broadway.
Councilman and Mayoral challenger Zack Reed, who voted against the dirt bike track and who is following its progress with interest, said the track is reviled elsewhere too. He attended the meeting last night and said he’d seen reactions like it all across the city.
“This will be the Mayor’s Achilles heel,” Reed said, in a conversation in the hallway outside the meeting. “I don’t care if I’m in West Park or in Hough. North, South, East, West, everybody hates this dirt bike track.”
*This article has been corrected with the proper spelling of Scott Denham. (It ends with an m, not an n.)
*This article has been updated with a comment from Allison Denham.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2017.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
City dollars for a dirt bike track……..amazing. Just amazing.
I’ve got an idea….put it in Public Square! I mean , you have already chased off all of the people by making it a dangerous, open air bus station…..at least you wont have to destroy more peoples’ property values with rampant crime and violence. You can just continue your assault on the gentrification of downtown! See? Perfect!!!!
Millions for a dirt bike track that will never be used by the very thugs the city wants to remove from the streets. Does anybody with even half a brain believe that these clowns will bother going there and using it? HELL, NO! No matter WHAT part of town it ends up in?
These wannabe outlaws want to play hard-guy urban biker and disrupt traffic and make a lot of noise and piss off the citizens with their pack-riding. Before these wannabe clowns ever start using the track, you’ll see the Hell’s Angels using first. On a snowy day in August.
So now it’s getting down to the old Cleveland nitty-gritty…racial animosity and threats of shooting the bi kers or running them over. Is anyone surprised it’s coming to that? Or that it might actually happen? Not only in Slavic Village, but in other neighborhoods as well.
And Mayor Frank will only wake up and allow something to be done after somebody gets killed…that’s when things finally start getting fixed in this city…when there are bodies being counted. Seems to be the Cleveland way.
Cleveland can fix a lot of streets with a couple of million dollars. And maybe hire a bunch of cops to put these clowns in jail. The city can afford to fix even more streets if ther bikes are impounded and sold after the wannabe outlaws break the law.
Chuckles the Clown
That underutilized downtown football stadium could certainly use the business.
I dont see why this would be a racially motivated subject… i myself live in slavic village and i see alot of white men/kids on dirt bikes as well. I think the idea of a dirt bike track was good ..but poorly planned out… i also believe it you have one on the east side you might as well have one on the west side
Regardless of the location issues and the lack of local input, the issue still remains that this is not an effective solution to large groups of teenagers on ATVs and dirt bikes.
Apparently, the word is out that unless you are a fleeing felon or suspected of DUI, Cleveland police cannot and will not chase you. And the thugs and criminals know this well.People have been running from the cops forever. But now they can do it with impunity…and laugh about it all the way home.
And they can keep on doing this “Street-Takeover” shit on dirt bikes, ATVs, and motorcycles, and give the cops the finger while doing it. As well as giving that same finger to every citizen in their path.
This being Cleveland, you know damn well that some citizen (or citizens) will eventually point their own fingers and say “BANG”….
Only it may not be with fingers. And the match will light the gasoline. POOF. BOOM.
Wake up, Frank. Or else you can wave bye-bye when the door hits your ass on your way out.
Chuckles the Clown
CRITICISM OF $2 MILLION BIKE TRACK NOT RACIST
August 18th, 2016
Blaine Griffins charge that the basis of complaints about a $2-million dirt bike proposal by his boss are racist is pathetic.
Griffin, at $105,000 a year, heads the citys community relations department.
Thats wonderful thinking for good community relations. Calling people racists.
And its 20 to 30 years out of date.
Theres plenty of real racism to call out without creating straw man issues.
Mayor Frank Jackson wanted the $2 million deal passed quickly. Naturally. Dont look closely at where the money is going or, as a number of council members noted, why pools that needed repairs to be open werent attended. It seems repairing pools in this hot summer would have been a no brainer.
To back up his claim Blaine, also vice chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, in a Face book post question the lack of outrage for millions of dollars for skateboard parks, boat docks, rowing sports and bike trails, though he named none nor their cost.
He conveniently overlooked the hundreds of millions spent by the city and county on pro sports facilities, their parking structures, and improvement costs that add up to a billion dollars at least.
He conveniently didnt mention these other recent and far more expensive subsidiesand not for public purposes but for PRIVATE, MONEY-GRUBBING businesses called sportsLarry Dolans Indians (given $37 million as of May), Dan Gilberts Cavs (given $60 million as of May) and Jimmy Cheat em Haslams Browns. The $2 million track story appeared in the PD the same day as a story in the paper noted Cleveland paid $20 million for another Browns stadium fix-up.
Want to cry about something?
If he really wanted to call out racism he have chased them and the fact that they pay no property taxes, which since their facilities are all in Cleveland, come at the expense of the Cleveland schools primarily, about half of the dollars at least. And thats millions a year that would service mostly black children.
I call that very selective complaining.
But he wouldnt put Mayor Frank Jackson on the spot by calling out that the mayor has his lips sealed for these white billionaires.
The Plain Dealer has been soft as can be on Jackson. Where are the columnists on this? Is the charge of racism not a serious charge?
People tell me that Chris Full-of-himself Quinn is a big fan of Jackson.
Maybe thats why.
How could that be? Even a low blow as a piece on Mayor Michael Whites surgery for hammertoes wasnt too low for Quinn when he covered City Hall.
Quinn elicited this poke by the Scene:
Reporter Christopher Quinn couldnt help but remind readerstwice in one storythat the malady (hammertoes) usually affects middle-aged women after a life of wearing high heels.
What did that mean? Certainly gratuitous.
The PD needs a couple women columnists, the ones out there doing some real journalism, though Im told they get stepped upon when they get too tough on city hall.
Maybe that would spice the dull daily read.
This charge by the citys community relations head and a boss of the county party should be challenged.
Plenty goes unchallenged here.
Theres plenty to bitch about.
The Gateway sin tax cost city and county taxpayers another $8.16 million last month. The County quarter percent tax increase produced for the hotel and convention center another $4.49 million, June 16 to July 16. For a grand total of $31.8 million from city and county residents. The arts & culture cigarette tax produced $2.4 million in July for a total now of $25.6 million.
Theres plenty of dough around for the right people.
No mention by any politician that race has anything to do with these vast expenditures by city and county taxpayers.
The $$$ certainly are not going where most needed. Thats for sure.
By Roldo Bartimole
Whatever happened to using public dollars to promote quality of life that everyone benefits from? Why is it that the residents and business owners of Hyacinth always get the shaft. Hasnt there been enough damage done there already under the guise of community development? Maybe the kids can store their dirt bikes inside all the vacant houses in the neighborhood. Is this proposed dirt bike track part of Mayor Jacksons plan to target $65 million at neighborhoods? And thats the best he can do for Hyacinth? Scrap this idea immediately and put the peoples dollars to better use. After all theres only an infinite number of possibilities…or is there?