The nation鈥檚 first publicly funded inner-city is being built in Cleveland with hopes of redirecting the swarms of dirt bike riders illegally using city streets. Backers say the park will reduce a dangerous nuisance, and generate revenue and create jobs. Others say the money could be better spent.
Youtube video captures some Cleveland dirt bike riders, mostly young men and teens, taking to city streets on their small, fast and agile machines. Cleveland police no longer try to catch them despite the dangers they create by speeding and doing stunts. 40-year-old Johnnie Burton says as a teenager he and friends would take their bikes to city parks and vacant lots to ride, only to be run off by police. So, they started riding on the streets to parks in other neighborhoods, and that ride became an activity of its own.
Illegal street riding started as a way to avoid the police
鈥淎fter a while, people would have fun riding from one side of town to the next, a 30-minute ride on your dirt bike through traffic, You known, riding a street bike that鈥檚 fun. So now you鈥檙e on a dirt bike, you can pop wheelies, you can do all these different things, that鈥檚 what they began to do. So instead of looking for a park to ride on, they just start riding their dirt bikes on the streets. And it became a rebellion initially.鈥�
Burton, whose father and grandfather are both well- known motorcycle enthusiasts, now teaches motorcycle repair and maintenance. Cleveland officials asked him to help devise a way to get illegal riders off the streets, and he and others recommended the dirt bike park. He says it will not draw all the illegal riders off the streets, but it will be a safe place where some can learn the proper way to ride. And maybe move into other aspects of the multi-million dollar dirt bike industry. When he鈥檚 not driving his tow truck, James Patten, known as "Smoke," still occasionally rides his street legal Yamaha dirt bike on Cleveland鈥檚 streets. At 31, he says hitting the streets is no longer the rebellious adventure the younger guys are engaged in.
"I mean, it鈥檚 more of a thrill thing, but I mean it鈥檚 a thing about safety too, you know what I鈥檓 saying? I mean, I鈥檓 a grown man, so me, if I ride in the streets I take on whatever laws or whatever I do wrong I take that on myself. But now we got kids growing up who want to ride or whatever and they look up to us and they鈥檙e riding on the streets and they don鈥檛 know anything about traffic laws or right and wrong or whatever, so this park, I think, will be beneficial to them coming up so they learn the proper way to do certain things.鈥�
Patten says many young riders he knows want opportunities to get off the streets. He also believes the dirt bike park could help some of them become good enough to compete professionally.
An economic incentive to the project
As the park is envisioned, it would also attract sanctioned races, and serve as an economic development tool. It鈥檚 being built in
"I see that as an opportunity to attract investment to the neighborhood where there hasn鈥檛 been a lot. And that investment I don鈥檛 see limited to the dirt bike. Once you start bringing people into the neighborhood, how do you use that to leverage to help improve the lives of people who live in the neighborhood. The dirt bike park itself is not an amenity directed toward the neighborhood, it鈥檚 going to be a regional draw.
And the councilwoman agrees that the park will not eliminate illegal street riding, but for the kids involved, it鈥檚 a start.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e always going to have people who don鈥檛 obey the law unfortunately. It doesn鈥檛 matter if you build a basketball court you got kids who are going to cause trouble instead of play basketball. So, yeah, it鈥檚 not going to cure the whole problem. But I really believe it will go a long ways toward changing that thinking and mentality of those guys who ride on the street.鈥�
Backers and opponents alike say the park won't eliminate the problem
is among those on city council who have reservations about the dirt bike park. He questions the city spending $2.4 million dollars on it.
"What my argument was, is again, with all the other pressing needs we have in the city, and all the existing parks, and rec centers and playgrounds that are in need of repair, how did this just surface out of the clear blue sky, it wasn鈥檛 in the five-year capital plan. And then we have a project here that is, again, supposed to be part of the cure all for crime in our neighborhood, and yet, you know, explain to me how.鈥�
Polensek adds that he鈥檚 not opposed to a dirt bike park, just the use of tax dollars to build it.
The city has selected a company to clean up environmental waste at the 30-acre site, and it鈥檚 in the process of find a company to do the design work and construction.
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