Improve Upon Valiant Efforts

How many times have we heard a parent lament the lack of a good place in town for kids to go to?

Well, for a short while, there was such a place in Coeur d’Alene and another in Post Falls. Now, each has closed its doors. The Spotlight, a Coeur d’Alene teen club operated for profit by Councilman Chris Copstead, closed during the holidays after a 13-month run. The Youth First Recreation Center, which relied on volunteers and rent subsidies from the city of Post Falls, shut last week, after six months.

Both centers were popular for awhile, providing teenagers a place to hang out. Each ran into financial difficulty when its popularity waned. Each center reached out to kids who were in danger of falling through society’s cracks. Neither Copstead nor Youth First’s operators should hang their heads because they tried and failed to fill an important community niche. They proved that youngsters need several places to go, not just one - and that to succeed, a youth center needs to be subsidized by taxpayers’ dollars or incorporated into a larger project, such as a community center.

In an ideal world, each community would meet the recreation needs of its youngsters with a community center, top-notch library, swimming pool, ball and soccer fields, playgrounds, parks, bike trails and, as the 21st Century approaches, maybe even a skate park. Year round, the most heavily used park in Coeur d’Alene is Coeur d’Alene Skate Park.

In the mid-1980s, Coeur d’Alene officials had the wisdom to conduct an inventory of city parks and study ways to expand them. Since then, Coeur d’Alene has built the impressive Ramsey Park complex, Northshire Park, Phippeny Park and others, while acquiring land for still more park expansion. It also has joined with the school district in building gyms that can be used by both the schools and recreation department. Meanwhile, discussion of a community center keeps coming up as the city considers redeveloping the public waterfront.

Post Falls doesn’t have the tax base Coeur d’Alene does. It does have something Lake City doesn’t: open land. Post Falls must decide what its recreational needs are and take steps to meet them before subdivisions gobble up the available land.

Youth First has identified a need for five more soccer fields and two baseball diamonds. Youth advocates also are pushing the city to build a skate park and to buy the Quad Park softball complex and Kootenai County’s only public pool. After all, closure of the recreation center doesn’t eliminate the need for good venues for after-school activities.

“I would like to see the city and the schools work together to get some after-school programs going,” said Vicki Caughran, Youth First secretary. “Someone needs to take care of the kids. They’re home alone too much.”

The will to meet the recreation needs of Post Falls youth is there. Now, the community ought to find the way.