05/08/98

Calling All Kids..

Calling all kids! Calling all kids! Not billy goats, silly. Kids, as in children. Come here quick and read this.

Children deserve air-time, too. So I am offering you some right here in cyberspace on this screen. Please write to me about your neighborhood or your town. What is it like to live there? If you could do anything you want to change it, what would you do to make your neighborhood or town better?

When I was growing up, we lived on our bikes. Ten or fifteen of us were always outside, even when it rained, unless forked lightning flashed. There was a vacant lot next door and Barstow Woods across the street, so we whiled away the hours making stick or snow forts, and playing "Capture the Flag", baseball, or "Deer" (hide-and-seek played after dark with flashlights). The neighbors especially liked the back yard carnival we threw every summer, complete with game booths, homemade prizes, and wagon rides.

We could ride anywhere in town on the bus for five cents. Sometimes we hopped on and rode the whole route, just for something to do. Naturally we could go downtown by bus, but there wasn't much to do there except shop. As I got older we stopped going there at all, because the new mall at the edge of town was more convenient. Gradually people called the main street a ghost town because of all the empty stores and boarded up windows there.

But you should see it now! A river flows behind the stores along Main Street. A second river intersects with it to form a "T" right behind the Farmer's Market. Someone built a suspension "tridge" over the intersection of the two rivers. It is called a "tridge" because it has three short spans, which meet in the middle, right over the spot where the rivers meet. It is the neatest thing you ever saw! Only walkers, runners, and bikers are allowed on it.

Midland Daily News

When I take my son and daughter to visit my hometown, they head for the "tridge" as fast as they can pedal. After spending time biking along the rivers, they buy fresh fruit at the Farmer's Market where they can also rent canoes to paddle up and down the river. Developers, eager to capitalize on the rush of kids and families downtown, built a hotel and conference center there, where businessmen and visitors can stay, rent bikes or canoes, stroll along the riverbanks, enjoy the outdoor sculpture garden on the opposite riverbank, and shop. Shop? Yes, shop. As the people came downtown, so did the merchants. There are clothing and toy stores, small restaurants and cafés, an art gallery, a drugstore, an arcade, a news & sundries shop, and a brand new hotel. More businesses are steadily moving in.

How do you suppose the citizens came up with the fanciful idea of a "tridge?" I don't know who first proposed it, but I believe it must have been invented by a child ... or a child at heart. Who else could dream up something so unique, in such perfect harmony with the natural terrain?

That is why I am asking you, kids, to share your wonderful, whimsical ideas about improving your neighborhoods and towns. Talk with your friends or swap ideas with your parents. Many towns and neighborhoods could use imaginative ways to identify and celebrate their unique qualities. Let your mind soar; then send me your flights of fancy.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.