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Elm Avenue Playground-Revisited
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Several weeks ago there was an article written in The Sunpaper about the recent problems at The Elm Avenue Playground and of a woman, Joy Sushinsky, who is trying to improve the area. Joy is trying to clean up the playground and make it a safe haven for children. She is trying to make it a place where mothers can take their children. I guess what she is mainly trying to do is to make her home a safe and desirable place and to protect her property value, while maintaining a positive quality of life.
ClickHereToReadJoy'sCourageousStory
I know Joy personally and I think she deserves a medal for the courage she has shown. She is a friend, a client, and a (really good) neighbor, and I have known her for, about five years. Not many would have put themselves in the position that my friend Joy has put herself into. I feel that acknowledgement has to be made and a formal thank you needs to be given:
THANK YOU JOY!
Did her commitment deliver any results? Where I live does not allow me to see the playground all the time. Although sometimes I do drive by there while looking for a parking spot, lately I intentionally drive by there to get a peek, and it does not look like it looked before the article was written. I have probably driven by there at least 15 times in the past couple of weeks and not one time did I see the usual 'gang' that I saw before. I am not sure what used to go on there, but when I drove by before the article was written, I had a pretty good idea what was going on there. Everything Joy said in the Sunpaper article-everything she said was going on-looked to me like it was going on at The Elm Avenue Playground. The article must have done something positive for the playground, since the usual suspects were not loitering when I've been by.
Now I want to address what was written by Caitlin Chamberlain in the 'Saturday Mailbox' section of the Baltimore Sun on Saturday, June 21st.
ClickHereToSeeCaitlin'sLetterRegardingTeensBoredom--
WhichAccordingToCaitlin,CausesDrugDealing,etc.
Caitlin stated that Joy offered no solutions to the problems---no solutions to help the youths. She states, "As a former delinquent myself, I attribute such behaviors to boredom and a lack of activities for teenagers". She says the older kids need 'something to do'. She suggests that Joy and other neighbors should offer something to help the teens. I don't know what anyone else thinks about this but I am not really keen on the idea of 'helping' the kid who is destroying my property and trying to get my kids to buy drugs.
She states that Joy has offered no solutions. I am not sure why anyone on the face of God's green earth would ever think that Joy needs to offer solutions---that totally blows me away! Why would Joy need to offer solutions? When you see a crime committed, you call the police. That is the solution. You hope the police will do their job and take care of the problem. I am not criticizing the police and I do recognize they have a really hard job and cannot be at all places at all times. And these kids are very smart and they 'know their rights'. But why would Joy ever be responsible for offering solutions? Does Joy have the specialized credentials to offer solutions to these types of problems? Is she a certified problem resolver or mediator? Is she a licensed psychiatrist? Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the police are responsible for offering solutions to crime. I hate to think that we live in a society where good citizens are expected to offer solutions before reporting to the appropriate authorities. I believe reporting crime, contacting the parks department, and calling the newspaper, was offering solutions---and she did a heck of a lot more than what would have been required of her. And apparently what she did has made a difference in the problem of crime in the park.
If a child molester was staking out that playground and mothers could not take their children there, I wonder what Ms. Chamberlain would do? I guess she would be suggesting that the perpetrator be arrested. I guess she would be writing letters, calling police, contacting the parks department, and trying to get neighbors involved, just as Joy is doing, or would she? Maybe she would be trying to find solutions to this individuals boredom. Would she be suggesting that the child molester be given a "safe haven to express his creativity". Why does she think that bloody fistfights, drug dealing to our children, and destruction of property should be rewarded by the offer of things to fill the boring life of being a teen? These kids don't know what bored is. Wait until they are 40 years old, have no skills, no job, no money, and a drug habit to feed-----then they will know what bored is!
I would suggest that since Caitlin is a former delinquent and seemingly knows what to do, she should do it. (Please, I beg of you, Caitlin---help these children!) Even though she calls herself a former delinquent, I am not sure if even she comperhends what they are capable of. She bets most of the kids are not bad people? Drug dealing, graffiti, violence, and malicious destruction of property are already being inflicted on the neighborhood by these thugs---what more would they have to do to qualify as "bad people"? I worked on 36th Street for seven years and every single weekend night that I can remember, there was an altercation where the police were called for out of control kids. I spoke to a woman who lives right on 36th Street and she told me the same thing: every night that is nice enough for the kids to be out, they cause trouble and start fights. These kids do not want to make the neighborhood a nicer place. These kids seem to want to strike fear in the hearts of decent, law-abiding citizens---and they are succeeding and will continue to succeed without the efforts of people like Joy.
Caitlin suggests that the kids need a place to hang out where they can express their creativity without interference (actually she said breathing down their necks) from their parents. Maybe that is the problem---a lack of parental involvement*Ding ding ding*. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had ever told my parents that I needed to express my creativity and/or I was bored---if I told them that was my excuse for breaking the law and frightening the neighbors. Let's just say, it would not have been received with much understanding.
Caitlin suggests we try to remember what it is like to be that age. I remember very well. There were times I was bored, sad, lonely, and felt like I didn't belong. I also had incredible times where I was happy, fulfilled, and felt that everything was right in the world. There were times when I did not do the right thing. I certainly was not perfect. I will tell you though, that when an adult arrived, I showed respect for authority. I knew that if I had done something wrong, when I got home and my parents found out what I had done, I was going to get it. My parents also instilled in me a desire to make them proud. That was not going to make me always do the right thing but it did make me think before I acted. If these kids now even made an effort not to get caught, they couldn't help but be better kids.
No activities for kids? Are you kidding me? Hampden has not changed that much! There are plenty of things for kids to do. They can do just what I did when I was a teen:
- Go to Roosevelt Park and play ball.
- Go to Wyman Park and walk along the stream or play soccer.
- Go to the woods surrounding SPCA and hike.
- Go to a friend's house and listen to music.
- Visit their grandparents.
- Play board games.
- Go to the library.
- Go to Lake Roland.
- Go to the Hampden Family Center to volunteer.
- Go to the Rec and goof off.
- Go to The Big Pool--We got a public pool!!! (although Mr. Bob would definitely not put up with out of control kids---I can guarantee that!)
I know it doesn't sound like a whole lot but it is a lot more fulfilling than just hanging out on The Elm Avenue Playground, selling drugs and vandalizing property.
In closing let me say this: You may agree or you may not, but I feel that Joy deserves praise for doing a job well done. I do not believe that she should be chastised for not offering solutions to a problem that is not of her creation. And if you look carefully she did offer a solution: Get rid of the kids.
Leave a comment or email me at BaltimoreHonExaminer@gmail.com
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