The Dirt Bike Park

I first wrote about Baltimore City's illegal dirt bike "epidemic" back in August.* Not too much has changed since then. The defiant bikers continue to ride where they please while the police "combat" the situation by setting up traffic cones along Reisterstown Road.

But something did catch my attention on the evening news yesterday. It centered around the proposed dirt bike park. The park is still in the initial stages of development but it will likely become a reality at some point. The biggest obstacle right now is finding the funds to build it. It's estimated that the price tag will be in the millions. With the cost of last April's riots and the subsequent $6 million payout to Freddie Gray's family, the city probably doesn't have a whole lot of spare change.

While on the surface, a city park sounds like a decent idea. But in reality, it's just another political delusion. A few of Baltimore's so-called leaders will eventually take credit for the new park after it's built. And then, when they run for re-election (or higher office), they can claim that they made a positive difference for the disenfranchised youth of Baltimore. Of course, there's no way to measure a non-statistic, so their claims will go unchallenged.

And here's something that I found to be quite amusing. The new park will feature an asphalt strip and a graffiti wall. I guess the bikers can pretend that they're on Reisterstown Road while they're doing wheelies down the strip? It just won't be the same without cars and "will work for food" guys in the way. Maybe that's the whole idea behind the graffiti wall as it will add just the right amount of ghetto to the park. You gotta admire the creativity of the planning committee!

But here's the real kicker. At least one city councilman is looking at ways to pay the riders for coming to the park. I'm not sure exactly how this will work but I understand that the paychecks will come in the form of a sponsorship. Maybe Chico's Bail Bond's can pay riders to wear their t-shirts? But nonetheless, the city is actually looking to pay people for not breaking the law. And I thought that getting arrested was the easiest way for a disenfranchised youth to get a payout from the city.

This is just another example of how we now tap dance around the problem and make excuses for those who misbehave. Instead of ticketing (or arresting) people for illegally riding their stolen dirtbikes, Baltimore is going to try to bribe them to come to the new bike park. Now, I do think that there will be kids who will use the park. But these will likely be the younger kids who actually have decent parents. Meanwhile, the thug element will continue to ride on the streets because they know they can. The cops have been neutered by Baltimore's "leadership" and are virtually powerless to stop them. So, keeping consistent with this logic, it only makes sense to spend millions on a park that will do nothing to fix the problem.

kw

* http://kensmouthpiece.blogspot.com/2015/08/dirt-bikes-and-city.html