For several decades, the two prominent Gainsboro community organizations, led by the late Robert Sisters and the Davis Sisters, respectively, were adamantly pursuing a small playground for the kids in the neighborhood. They were endorsing a specific lot, 4th Street and Fairfax Avenue, NW, which, common sense would suggest, is surrounded on all four sides by the single most important ingredient to a neighborhood playground…RESIDENTIAL HOMES, some of which have children living in those homes, thus the perceived need for a small neighborhood playground.
So, why are the ‘sistas’ rolling over in their proverbial graves, as the City of Roanoke is finally granting their decades old wish, by proposing to build the long sought after playground. Well, common sense is suggesting the City Planners/neighborhood organizations would opt for the playground(s) to be located in the midst of the neighborhood, like the lot the community organizations were endorsing 20+ years ago, (which by the way is for sale). Or the other of several lots that are available, smack in the middle of the neighborhood. How about the new swimming pool, there’s plenty of space available, in the MIDDLE OF A PARK, including a built in audience, who are already being supervised. So, is the city/neighborhood organizations displaying common sense by opting for one of several of the most obvious locations? Don’t bet on it!
The city, via their Planning Department, is recommending, not the common sense vision, as sought by the iconic Robert & Davis Sisters, but rather a location that is about as far away from the neighborhood as you can get…Henry Street. More specifically, fronting Wells Avenue, and bookended by Henry Street to the West and Jordan Alley to the East. The majority of this prime for development real estate is surrounded not by houses with kids, but a business district with buildings and parking lots, and two very wide four lane boulevards, which these 6-12 year olds would have to cross just to get to the playground. HUH?
This begs several questions, the first of which is, are you SERIOUS? What feasibility surveys did the city perform that determined this was the most appropriate location for a playground? Obviously none, because it isn’t. And since this isn’t the ‘60’s, when kids were literally thrown out of the house, but rather 60 years later, when any responsible parent, grand-parent, or guardian will barely let the young ones out of the yard without supervision, what determination has the city made that a playground, regardless of where it is, will even be used? Drive through the city, with the exception of the basketball courts, the playgrounds are virtually empty. The notion that “if you build it, they will come” is just like the movie…a fantasy!
We drove through all of Gainsboro, mid morning and mid afternoon for a week, looking for the kids that would potentially use this playground and can count the number we saw on one hand, and they were all teenagers, beyond the market age of a potential playground user. They’re inside, in front of a screen, because they’re seriously addicted to their video games.
Another question for the city…If you didn’t have Covid grant money, would you even consider using local tax revenue to build this playground? Let alone up on Henry Street? The last 25 years will answer that! The city claims that if they don’t spend the money, they will lose it. Common sense would suggest it’s a bigger crime to spend free money on something dubious, than to not spend it on something the neighborhood really needs. Common sense would suggest for the amount of money the city will spend up on Henry Street, they could build two, if not three smaller, more strategically located, playgrounds, right in the middle of the neighborhoods, where the kids actually live. DUH!
So kudos to the neighborhood activist who displayed the common sense needed, by questioning the appropriateness of the Henry Street location. Sadly, the one thing most of us know for sure about common sense is…it ain’t so common!
