A FEW CANDID THOUGHTS ON THE EVENT AT MEMORIAL PARK TODAY... I had the privilege of being present at a pretty encouraging gathering of community members today at Memorial Park in Williamsport. Despite the videos that are surely making the rounds of about 5 minutes worth of drama, the couple hours I spent in the park having conversations and making new connections was overwhelmingly positive. Sure, basketball was a theme, but community building was a much bigger one. I am, however, more than frustrated at arm-chair critics condescendingly asking, Where were you before all this happened? Allow me to respond on behalf of those gathered in the park today: First: Weve BEEN involved. Were parents, teachers, volunteers, coaches, mentors, doctors, business owners, artists, pastors and other community members who are actively seeking the good of our city. Were invested. Were committed. Were not the bystanders who suddenly care about basketball hoops I keep hearing that we are. Were the people who have been present. Some of the people I shook hands with today have given their lives to help this city. Most have committed hours and hours weekly to help this community. If anything, its taken too long for us to do it together. The hundred or so people who marched and gathered today are the people who have been showing up. WHERE WERE YOU? Secondly - the concern that emanated from the park today was not focused on a sport, it was directed at the facade of solutions to assuage fear without actually developing strategy to fix problems. Every park in this city has litter. Every park in this city has drug activity. To single out one recreational activity at one park as the source of those problems and say youre trying to prevent crime is disingenuous. Everyone who gathered in the park today, as Coach Allen Taylor said, desires the same results that our city leadership does: we WANT a safer city, we WANT a more beautiful city, we WANT growth and health in our community. We just also want transparency and wisdom to inform a long-term strategy to get those results, not quick-fixes that dont actually make anything better yet take positive opportunities away from the community and largely target a narrow demographic. I realize this is an uncharacteristically assertive Facebook rant from me, but some of the vitriol Im hearing and reading is ridiculous. You can either build a community or you can tear it down. Stop tearing down people who are trying to do positive things.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 02:39:43 +0000
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