One more good idea worth stealing

By Wendy Gragg

I was happy to read in Mike Copeland's article Sunday that Waco officials are looking far and wide at the good ideas that other cities have had, especially where successfully revitalized downtowns are concerned.

And I was thrilled to see that Greenville, S.C. is one of the cities that Waco officials took a closer look at. I spent a lot of years in Greenville and still go back to visit my best friends. In fact, I'll be there for a few days later this month.

That place was so provincial when I moved there from Austin in 1987. Now it has blossomed, with a vastly revitalized downtown, greenspace, natural area and history spotlight at Reedy River Falls and lots of local businesses. Waco would do well to take some cues from Greenville, particularly where downtown growth is concerned.

And while we're talking about downtown, I have another idea that Waco might want to consider stealing.

Last weekend, San Antonio held its first ever SiClovia event. SiClovia, Spanish for "bike path," consisted of closing off Broadway to cars for about two miles from the Witte Museum down to McCullough Avenue.

For about four hours, the road was turned over to bicycles, walkers, joggers, skateboarders, roller skaters, dog walkers, etc. The event was to encourage the denizens of SA, which often earns the dubious description of fattest city, to get out and get moving.

Luckily, my brother lives just off of Broadway along the route. So when my 2-year-old nephew, Rowan, took to running wild through the house, while his mother wasn't feeling well, I grabbed him and a bottle of water and took off to check out SiClovia.

It was awesome. There were public exercise classes, sports demonstrations, a climbing wall, healthy snacks, face painting and balloon animals. And different vendors and organizations set up tents and had hula hoops and balls, bubbles and frisbees out for kids to stop by and play with.

Rowan was enthralled. Maybe overwhelmed is a better word, even. He couldn't be bothered to play on his favorite playground. He didn't even ask to go ride rides at Kiddie Park. He wanted to keep moving and take it all in.

Now, I couldn't get him to leave the umbrella stroller, but I just took that in stride (literally). I figured pushing him made that much more of a workout for me and he is a fit little rough-and-tumble toddler, so riding rather than walking one day probably won't scar his activity levels for life.

The day also made for excellent people watching. According to the San Antonio Express-News, about 15,000 people turned out for the event.

The event was funded by a $15.5 million grant awarded to the Metropolitan Health District for anti-obesity initiatives, and the city partnered with the YMCA to organize the free festival. There are plans for a second SíClovía in March.

I'd love to see Waco tackle something on a smaller scale. Though we have Cultural Arts Fest and some other fests, I don't think we have anything like this, do we?

Just maybe one more good idea to consider.

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