Lakewood Citizen Susannah Selnick, And Friends Of Madison Park Speak Out Against Closure Of Basketball Courts

A Lakewood Citizen's Response to the City's Reaction to Recent Violent Crime

I, like all of my fellow Lakewoodites, am saddened and outraged by the string of violent crimes that have occurred in our City in the last few weeks. 

But, I am equally saddened and outraged at the response of our City leaders in the wake of these tragic events.

Basketball courts do not cause gun violence. Guns cause gun violence. The City’s response to close only these courts, sends a very clear message: Keep “others” out, so long as we are protected. And if this is not the intended message, then why did the City not also force the closure of Game On or the Metro PCS store where two other violent crimes occurred in the last month? Or why not close the roads to cars where individuals have recently been carjacked at gunpoint?

Basketball courts provide a welcoming, free, recreational space for children and adults to exercise, socialize, and have fun. It just so happens that two of these violent crimes in Lakewood in the last month have occurred on a basketball court.

And, as it so happens, these now-closed basketball courts are in the heart of Birdtown, a neighborhood of Lakewood that is historically the most racially diverse in our city, and one that sits on the border of our neighboring City of Cleveland, which also has a more diverse population than our own.

In a time where people of color are experiencing daily trauma with news of police brutality, where collectively as a nation we are on the brink of accepting our racist histories and working towards reconciliation, our City has chosen to remove a part of our parks that are meant to offer refuge and community, especially for our youth.

This response is cowardly. To call it even a band aid solution to a problem would be giving it too much credit. This response is tone-deaf and irresponsible and needs to be condemned. 

The problem here is gun violence. The answer is not to merely “Keep it out of my backyard,” but to find solutions that eradicate the problem at the root. We need to be engaged with County and State task forces who work to mitigate violent crimes in our region. We need to be pressuring our State and Federal legislators to enact meaningful gun control reform.

The answer is not more police and more cameras. The answer is leveraging our resources collectively to make substantive change for all. The answer is rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard, yet necessary work, to be uncomfortable in conversations, but to do so to save the lives of our children, and to move towards a more racially equitable community.

Join me in telling our Lakewood City leaders that they need to do better. This issue of violent crime will not just go away with these types of reactionary tactics. We must condemn the response of our City and demanding a comprehensive, proactive, anti-racist response to ending gun violence.

Susannah Selnick is an experienced community leader who has spent her career creating unique development strategies for social mission-driven organizations and advocating for entrepreneurs and visionaries. Currently, she works as the Vice President for Community Development at Jon Thomas Consulting – serving difference-makers and change agents throughout the world. Susannah serves on the Friends of Madison Park community group, Advisory Board for the Lakewood Family YMCA, is the Voter Services Chair for the Lakewood Chapter of the League of Women Voters, and is a Committee Member on the City of Lakewood Citizens Advisory Committee.

Susannah received her Bachelor’s of Arts from Case Western Reserve University, and her Master’s of Business Administration from Cleveland State University. Prior to her work with nonprofits, Susannah worked for local healthcare organizations including Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals. While at CWRU School of Medicine, Susannah performed HIV, cancer, and influenza research.