Our Kids Need Somewhere To Go

About 6,500 children under 18 live in Garfield Heights — the Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 estimate is 6,585, and the 2020 Census counted 7,109. Where do they go?

What the city offers

Besides parks and ball fields, the city’s recreation center is an ice rink (open September through March) and an outdoor pool. The city lists no gym or youth center among its facilities; youth programs borrow space at the Civic Center or at schools.

This summer our pool’s season was scheduled for about nine weeks, June 16 to August 16, open 2 to 8 p.m. five days a week and closed Mondays and Tuesdays (in 2025 it closed only on Mondays). There were no swim lessons, and the city warned that access “may be limited due to a shortage of lifeguards.” It is pay-to-play: $10 a day, or a $25 resident season pass. To its credit, the city cut pass prices this year and announced a free Fourth of July weekend.

Ice skating runs fall through winter, and it costs money too: $6 to $9 a session, plus $7 to rent skates. The city’s own youth programs charge fees; the free options I found are run by nonprofits and partners, plus a few one-day events. In July, volunteer coaches told Council their requests for space at the rec center, the Civic Center and the schools kept getting denied; the Mayor told them to call his office if it happens again.

A dangerous summer

The National Weather Service put Cuyahoga County under an Extreme Heat Warning from June 30 through July 3, forecasting heat index values up to 107°F. During that warning, the county’s cooling-center map listed no cooling center in Garfield Heights, and the city’s July calendar showed our pool closed on July 1, the day Cleveland hit a record 97 degrees.

We pay for recreation

By city ordinance, 6 percent of city income-tax proceeds go to the Recreation Fund — the city’s 2025 financial statements confirm the split — and a separate 0.15-mill charter property-tax levy is dedicated to recreation programs.

Debelak Park

After fights and car chases there this spring, the city shut the Debelak Park basketball courts, reopened them with a rec-ID rule, then closed them permanently on June 5 after a June 4 shooting and a planned “teen takeover.”

A year earlier, on Sunday, April 6, 2025, police were called to the Granger Road entrance of Marymount Hospital — the same road the park is on — where they found a 16-year-old with a gunshot wound. A juvenile suspect was arrested that night and charged with attempted murder. The news report did not say where the shooting itself took place.

What I believe

Here I move from fact to opinion. In my view, when a space closes and nothing replaces it, our kids get pushed from one corner of the city to the next. I believe the lack of organized, affordable recreation is one factor behind the youth fights and “takeovers” our city has seen this year.

I also believe that an officer or an auxiliary officer assigned to Debelak Park could have helped prevent the fights and the shooting. In my opinion, the courts could then have stayed open, and our residents would still have that place to play.

I have been saying this for years

During my time on Council, I complained numerous times that we do not have enough recreation for our kids. As I told Council in 2012, “I always complain that we don’t have enough recreation for the kids in this city.” In 2013, as chair of the Recreation Committee, I warned that the city was “giving the young people absolutely nowhere to go.”

On March 25, 2024, I asked Council to let residents give input on recreation. Mayor Burke told me, “when we get ready to do this, I will be calling on you to help with input,” and Council President Avery Johnson said the city had “pointed out venues” for “a permanent recreation site” and was “looking at definitely doing something in the very near future.” The city held a public recreation meeting in May 2026, but no one has called me for input.

My offer still stands. Let me work for YOU.

Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau: 2020 Census (P.L. 94-171) and American Community Survey 2020–2024, table B09001 (Garfield Heights city)
• City of Garfield Heights: facilities directory, pool page and 2026 swimming information, ice rink page and fee sheet, youth sports page
• National Weather Service Cleveland: Extreme Heat Warning for Cuyahoga County, June 29–July 3, 2026
• Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management cooling-center map (cuyahogacounty.gov/extremeheat)
• Garfield Heights Codified Ordinance 183.01 and the city’s 2025 Basic Financial Statements; 2027 tax budget (Resolution 23-2026)
• Garfield Heights City Council minutes: October 22, 2012; August 12, 2013; March 25, 2024; June 8 and July 14, 2026
• News 5 Cleveland and Cleveland 19, June 5–6, 2026 (Debelak Park)
• Cleveland 19, April 7, 2025 (16-year-old found shot at Marymount Hospital’s Granger Road entrance)

From The Ward 2A Report, Issue 2026-003. If a figure here is wrong, tell me and I will correct it.