Michael Zarrillo Essay 2

Michael Zarrillo 

27 September 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Community Issue Essay

Why Is There Nothing To Do?

The town of Caldwell where I live is a very nice town that has a lot of restaurants, supermarkets, Dunkin Donuts, and ice cream or dessert stores. The one thing that makes Caldwell very boring at times is that there is really nothing, activity wise, to do in town. A lot of other towns have bowling alleys, mini golf courses, sporting goods stores and other stores and clubs. Although some of these places like the mall, or mini golf are not very far away from Caldwell, it would make it a lot easier if we had a few of these places in town so that they are easier to get to and we would be able to go there more often. Not having these places in town makes it harder on people because they have to drive to these places, although some places may only be 10-15 minutes away, others are 25-30 minutes away. If there were a few less restaurants in town, and a few more places like bowling alleys, mini golf courses, and driving ranges, it would make the town more fun. As a result of none of these places being in Caldwell, going to these places uses more gas, takes longer to get to, and it causes you not to go to these places very often.

In Valerie Kinloch’s essay “Harlem is Art/Harlem as Art”, Kinloch explains the problem of gentrification in her community, which is Harlem. Kinloch shows that by a lot of white people moving into Harlem who have more money that the mostly black population that already lives there, they are driving up the costs of everyday life. Since the white population moving into Harlem is an affluent population, it is causing the cost of rent, taxes, and bills to go up for the black population that was already there. A lot of the black population cannot afford to pay these higher rent costs and they are forced out. Gentrification is the main problem in Kinloch’s essay. 

For a lot of people, especially teenagers, going bowling or to play mini golf, or the driving range and places like this are fun because you are actually doing something instead of sitting in the house all day. Teenagers especially, when we want to hang out, a lot of times we like going out and doing activities like bowling, rather than just staying at home, watching TV, and playing video games. The stores, especially sporting goods stores are fun to go to as well because, even if you don't buy anything, you walk around a look at things that you may want to buy, or fool around with the footballs for a while. Although staying home and hanging out with friends there and watching TV isn't bad sometimes, most of the time we would rather go out and actually do something.

The first problem with these stores and recreational places not being in town is that we use more gas when going to these places. Since we don't have these places in Caldwell we use more gas to get to these places. Some places like the mall and mini golf or the driving range are not too far and are about 15 minutes away. However, other places like the bowling alley or Dick’s Sporting Goods (which is the best sporting goods store) are anywhere from 25-30 minutes away. This makes driving to these places annoying because they are kind of far and it wastes a lot of gas to get there. Especially in my friend group, almost all of us have Jeeps and SUV’s which are terrible on gas, so this is especially annoying for us. We use a lot more gas getting to these places because they are not in town. 

There is a solution to spending more money on gas though. The solution could either be to build a bowling alley or mini golf course or stores in town, or lower gas prices. As we all know, gas is not cheap, so going to these places that are not in town costs a lot, especially when you drive a Jeep. There are a bunch of spots in Caldwell that have stores or restaurants that have gone out of business where one of these places could be built. It would make it a lot easier on the people that live in Caldwell, and on our wallets because we wouldn't have to spend as much money. If a bowling alley, mini golf course, or sporting goods store were built in Caldwell, it would solve our problem of wasting a lot of gas to get there. 

The next problem about not having these places in town is that it makes in more difficult to get to these stores and recreational sites. Since we can’t just drive down Bloomfield Ave (the main street in Caldwell) to get to Sports Authority or the bowling alley, it makes it harder to get to and takes longer to get to. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the closest Sports Authority, the mall, or the driving range/mini golf course. This is not too far but, it makes it harder to get to these places because they are in other towns. It makes it harder on everyone, especially teenagers to get to these places since we don’t have them in town. 

The solution for it being harder to get to these places are to build them in town where there are empty spaces that they can be built. Caldwell has numerous places in town that is open land or old stores or restaurants, many on Bloomfield Ave, that are no longer in business that a bowling alley or Sports Authority could be built. So instead of forcing us to drive 15 minutes to Wayne or Fairfield, we can drive 5 minutes and save gas and the hassle. Bowling alley’s and mini golf courses especially, do not take up a ton of space when building them. So build a bowling alley, mini golf course, or anything like this in town to solve everyone’s problem of driving so long. 

The final problem with not having a bowling alley and other recreational sites in town is that it causes people not to go to these places as often because the drive is too long. I know that my friends, my family and I all love to go bowling. But because the nearest bowling alley is at least 25 minutes away, we don't go often because nobody wants to drive all the way there to bowl a few games. My Dad grew up in Montclair and he had a bowling alley in town that was 5 minutes away. He used to go bowling all the time because it was so close and it was fun. Since the bowling alley closest to Caldwell is a minimum of 25 minutes away, we don’t go bowling that much because it is too far.

The solution for not having a bowling alley or sporting goods store in town is to either make an easier way to get to these places that is quicker, or to build one in town or at least closer to Caldwell. When going to the bowling alley especially, you have to take multiple highways to get there and there are traffic lights the whole way. If there was at least an easier way to get there that is quicker, it makes it easier on everyone because we don't have to deal with all of the traffic. And if you don't build one in town, build one closer to Caldwell that does not take long to get to. Doing this would bring in more business because a lot of people in surrounding towns would go as well because they have the same problem as us. 

Not having a bowling alley, sporting goods store, or mini golf course in town makes Caldwell very boring at times. If Caldwell decides to build one of these places in town, it would make Caldwell more exciting and would bring in more revenue, because everyone in the town will have activities and things to do all the time since we have them in town. There are problems with not having them in town and all the solutions basically are to build these places in town. The problems are wasting gas to get to these places, they are harder to get to, and it causes people not to go to these places as often. Since there are spots in Caldwell to build these places, mostly on Bloomfield Ave and other main roads like Passaic Ave, I don't know why the town doesn't decide to built one of these recreational places or stores. Caldwell better do something because this town gets pretty boring at times, and we all take our money to other towns to go to the bowling alley, sports store, or mini golf course, instead of staying in Caldwell to go to these places.