DAYTON, Ohio — It’s a million-dollar project but one group is hoping a brand new outdoor roller skating rink will curb crime and help the community.
It might just be land in an empty field on McCall Street on Dayton’s west side, but advocates are trying to turn it into something that hasn't been in this community in more than 60 years.
About a block down the road from that empty land on McCall Street, Elizabeth Early-Gainous remembers when the grown-over trees, gates and roadblocks that are there now were something fun — something her family built.
"When I came up in the '50s, that’s what we started doing is roller skating out here,” said Early-Gainous. “My great grandfather cut those pipes down, filled those holes so my mother and her brothers and sisters could roller skate," she said.
Her great grandfather built a makeshift outdoor roller skating rink. It was the only outdoor rink for kids in the area.
She said there’s been nothing like it since, but now she’s part of an effort to change that.
“Our children are starving for attention. They need to feel important and not left out,” said Early-Gainous.
She teamed up with her nephew, Carlos Buford, an advocate with Dayton’s Black Lives Matter group, and they came up with a plan.
“Right now, we’re just trying to find a place where we can of course have it here. It’s flat. It’s transparent. This is where we could say our kids can be safe," said Buford.
He said this is just the first step but he said it's an important one for the Black community.
“At the end of the day, this is a predominately Black neighborhood, and we want to make sure that resources and redevelopment is brought over here as well,” said Buford.
Once they get the right city permits and paperwork, he estimates they’ll need to raise more than a million dollars to turn the land into a community center and outdoor roller skating rink, and bring back what was lost.
“We’ve sort of been forgotten about, so it is important that we try to bring something to stabilize our community," said Early-Gainous.
Even though they’re still in the beginning phases, advocates are hoping to have everything done on this project within the next year.