I'm the senior vice president in charge of the regional office for a large company. About a year ago, some kids from the neighborhood came into the office and asked if they could ride their BMX bikes on an abandoned stretch of dirt behind the building. I admired the fact that they asked for permission, gave them the OK, and they've returned a few times to ask if they could build jumps and other such things. My employees love sitting outside and watching the kids in the afternoon. A few have even taken their bikes out on the little dirt track they've created.
Then, a few weeks ago, a lawyer from our corporate office caught sight of the track and went ballistic. I was told that they needed to tear down the track because it was a liability.
The kids have done a lot of work turning what was formerly a blight into a source of pride for the office and community, and I gave them my word that it was OK. Now I'm supposed to bulldoze the entire thing. Where's the line?
Lawyers don't think the same as the rest of us. Where you see a source of civic pride, they see a messy lawsuit. Unfortunately, they have a point. This is, after all, a country where you can sue someone when you spill hot coffee on yourself.
It's clear from your tone that you're a man of your word, and you don't want to break the promise you made to the kids. This is admirable. To keep that promise, you're going to have to find a compromise between the kids and the corporate risk. And it's not going to be easy.
The problem with something like a BMX track is that it's a huge liability. Such venues are always struggling to survive because the insurance far outweighs the overhead.
If you want to keep the track alive and keep your word, you're going to have to fight the good fight (with the emphasis on fight).
One option is to approach your local government about donating the land to be used as a track. If this works, it will be great PR for your company. Unfortunately, your local government has lawyers, too, and they took the same liability classes, so this might not work.
Your other option is to take your case to the higher-ups in your company and see if they'd be willing to put the lawyers to good work. This would require making the track "official," installing safety precautions and fencing, putting up "Use At Your Own Risk" signs, getting the kids to sign waivers, etc, etc. It's going to require some moola from the company, but use your employees and the community as backup. Sure, installing a ping-pong table in the break room sounds like a morale-builder, but it won't compare to the sense of connection to the community - and to childhood - that your employees feel when they watch a 12-year-old rip it off a jump out of the window of their cubicle farm.
It's going to be an uphill battle, but either way it will be worth it to cure that sick feeling in your stomach when you think of having to tell the kids that big, bad corporate America wants their dirt back because they might get hurt.
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