My understanding is that someone broke into the equipment trailer and started a fire. The trailer was damaged and would cost more to repair than to replace, so they have to buy a new trailer. As I understand it the track itself was not damaged. I've seen no report of theft, and they stored some pretty good bikes in there, which makes the motive really unclear. I haven't seen dollar estimates o th damage. Maybe someone was trying to keep warm. Maybe they just wanted to keep new people out of the neighborhood. Who knows. Anyway, the folks there could use support, in both labor and finance. It's a bunch of people scraping together cash and labor that built the thing, with support from a few major donors. Their 2014 ride/race/learn-to-race schedules are on their website.
This is from the velodrome:
At approximately 4-5am on Monday April 7, 2014 the office and storage trailer at Cleveland Velodrome was broken into and subsequently set on fire. The location near the intersection of Broadway and Pershing Avenues in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. Anyone who may have information or tips relating to this incident is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at
http://25crime.com/ or 216-252-7463 Callers can remain anonymous and are eligible to receive a cash reward (up to $2,000) if the information given leads to an arrest or grand jury indictment of a felony offender.
If you would like to help, please see our website for a volunteer schedule or to make a donation via PayPal:
http://clevelandvelodrome.org/It looks like someone tried to break into a popular local cycling venue, and ended up doing way more damage than a burglary.
Vandals hit the Cleveland Velodrome yesterday. It looks like they tried to get in to a trailer on the site of the bicycle track, and when they couldn't, they set fire to it.
Now the track needs information and support. Share this post to spread the word, and click to find out how you can help:
http://5.wews.com/vzIMq