Boy Scouts Tackle Renovation Project at San Angelo's Safety City

The pound of hammers, buzz of saws and puff of nail guns resonated at the corner of MLK and 12^th streets on Saturday, where red-shirted boys aged from 12-18 worked on renovating two buildings at San Angelo’s Safety City.

Jared Grover, a Life Scout with Boy Scouts Troop 36, led the construction of the two buildings as the site manager, hoping to make the transition to Eagle at the conclusion of the project.

“Safety City needed a bit of a renovation, so we took the five or six buildings that were already here, took them down, and now we’re building the two structures that you see here,” Grover gestured to two framed and dressed buildings behind him. “It’s going to stay here until a new Safety City gets built down the road.”

As the job site manager, Grover was in charge of making contacts within the community to solicit supplies, draft construction plans and oversee Saturday’s building. Loren Edwards, Grover’s building coach, helped with the layout and design, pus assisting in putting together the material list.

“I had to send emails, call people—just basically coordinate [with everyone],” Grover said. “City Lumber also donated everything, which is a huge help. I’m very thankful for them.”

The 15 or so boy scouts, plus scout masters and leaders, began construction at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, and by 2 p.m., were tacking on matting over the roofs and preparing to lay shingles.

All of the boys played an active part in the construction: swinging hammers, learning framing and working to assemble the buildings made of 2X4s and plywood. They relied on the knowledge of the leaders, each providing input and advice on how to not only erect the buildings, but keep them structurally sound.

“Just like it is for the younger scouts, it’s a learning process for me too,” Grover said. “Almost all of the leaders in the scouts has a background in some sort of construction. We’ve got one that’s, like, just waiting for an opportunity to buy some new tools.”

Once the buildings are complete, they will be named after local businesses that have in some way contributed to or sponsored the project. Signs for City Lumber and the police department will cover one side of each building; the backsides of those buildings will each be split to feature two storefronts.

Grover’s selection of the project was based on need. Brian Bylsma, an Assistant Scout Master for Troop 36 and San Angelo Police Motors Officer who runs the Safety City program, approached him with the idea, and Grover latched on.

Bylsma has been serving as the instructor for years and almost immediately noticed the dismal and run-down shape the grounds were in when he took over. Rows of miniature buildings lining “streets” with arrows painted on them for indicating direction of travel stand in faded and chipping paint, while signs affixed to the fronts of the structures have yellowed and started to peel.

“When I started taking over it and I started being out here more and more and seeing the conditions of the facilities and everything else, I started talking to [Sgt.] Korby [Kennedy] because he was my boss and asking him about some ideas of what we could do,” Bylsma said. “He was basically all for, ‘let’s put resources into here to keep it going because we have to keep it going, but let’s put limited amount of resources.’”

Bylsma explained that Sgt. Kennedy was on the Safety City Board, who is tasked with making plans for a new facility anticipated to be built in the next four years or so.

“This project that Jared and the other scout is going to end up doing, because it’s eventually going to go away, it doesn’t lessen the fact that we still need it,” Bylsma said. “And we need it until this new one can be built.”

Referencing an April Standard-Times article on Safety City, Bylsma and another scout master said that the impression everyone got from the story was that the facility had been abandoned. Actually, the city is required to keep the facility running and, each year, Bylsma brings in all of SAISD’s third graders for training on how to appropriately cross streets and ride bicycles where there may be traffic. He then brings in schoolchildren from outlying districts.

“If they run my stop signs, if they run my red lights, or something like that, I tell them that their teachers are going to be the ones giving them the tickets,” Bylsma mused. “It’s basically trying to teach them and trying to make them aware of the traffic laws when they’re riding bicycles.”

Noting the relevant importance of the project, Grover, who needed a project to become an Eagle Scout, and his scout leaders discussed it and decided to take the task on.

“The Eagle project is the most significant leadership project within the Boy Scouts because of the fact that they are the planners, they’re the organizers, they’re the job site managers, and they’re supposed to be able to display and show leadership ability to be able to get a project done,” Bylsma explained.

Once he’d accepted the project, Grover was tasked with putting together a plan and presenting it the Boy Scouts Board, where he had to answer any questions they might have about his proposal and how he hoped to manage the project. Upon acceptance, he than began looking for materials, soliciting funds and designing a plan of attack. The final step follows completion, at which time Grover will go back before the board and present his initial plan, explain any changes and how he handled difficulties and submit things like an itemized supply list and receipts.

While Grover is the one going after the Eagle rank, the other boys present received service hours for their participation. Another life scout, Alexander McKowen, will complete two more buildings in a subsequent project after Grover’s is finished.

There has been discussion in the community of naming the facility after Sgt. Korby Kennedy, who was killed in a traffic crash in the line of duty on June 25. Bylsma said that given the state of the current facility, he would rather wait to honor his friend and former supervisor when the new Safety City is built, That decision, however, will ultimately lie with the board.

“They haven’t decided whether they’re going to name the new one after him or whether they’re going to name one of the main meeting halls,” Bylsma said. “They have told us that at the new Safety City he will be honored respectfully.”

Bylsma said he anticipates it will be at least four years before the new Safety City is constructed. As of yet, the location has not yet been determined, nor have the funds been raised.