Source: Marvin Joseph / Getty
CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) –
Despite a lot of opposition, Cleveland City Council members passed a $2.3 million dirt bike track proposal Monday night with a vote of nine to seven.
Tracks will be coming to the southeast side of the city in the Garden Valley neighborhood.
“We spend $2.3 million on a dirt bike track,” said Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed.
MORE: Cleveland Council scraps dirt bike, ATV park vote today
Voicing his frustrations, Monday night Reed made it clear he doesn’t support council’s decision to build a multi-million dollar dirt bike track in the city.
“A track, I can almost guarantee you, no one in this room is going to go to. Nobody,” Reed said.
It’s money Reed would rather spend on the city’s police department.
MORE: Mayor Jackson’s grandson back in court for his illegal dirt bike
“Two-point-three million dollars on a dirt bike track, while little babies this weekend got shot on our streets. We buy dirt bike tracks,” he said.
Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland sponsored the legislation. She represents Ward 5, which is where the tracks will go. She said transforming the park won’t take away from funding first responders.
“This was money already set aside,” Cleveland said.
Carl Monday: Mayor responds to grandson riding dirt bikes on city streets
Cleveland called the park a program that keeps kids busy. The goal is to get illegal dirt bike and ATV riders off city streets and give them a place to ride.
“Get young people off the streets and redirect (them) into something positive, that’s what this is,” Cleveland said.
The project will transform Marion Motley Park. It’ll be the only dirt bike track of its kind around.
READ MORE: Cleveland19.com
Article Courtesy of WOIO Cleveland 19 News
Picture Courtesy of Marvin Joseph and Getty Images
