Bookwalter’s Best Bike Shop in Mansfield officially closed last October when Jay Bookwalter, the owner, died. The shop’s parts, bikes and mementos were auctioned off on Sunday, April 6. Many from the community showed up to buy every last piece of equipment – Paul Bender was one of them.
Bender, who works as a land use planner at Richland County Regional Planning Commission (RCRPC), spent over one-thousand dollars of his own money to collect repair tools, equipment, and bikes for an idea he has for Richland County at the auction. He was especially grateful to have his friends Clarence Bauman and Matthew Stanfield for help him with the transportation of the goods.
Now, Bender wants to reopen the original Bookwalter’s bike shop on Mulberry and Fifth streets as a community cycling center.
“When I first came to Mansfield in 2005, I went over to do my laundry at the corner of Mulberry and Fifth. I go there and see this old, stone building and I saw the potential of that beautiful building,” shared Bender.
The reason he bought so much equipment was because he would eventually like to turn the old stone building at Mulberry and Fifth into a Richland County Community Cycling Center. The building would buy and sell old bikes, repair bikes, and educate youth on bike repair and safe riding. The shop would also ideally provide bicycle tools, parts, used bikes and mechanical expertise to the public. Ideally, according to Bender, it would also be a community garden center where youth and the general public could learn about urban gardening.
His inspiration stems from his experience in Portland, Oregon, which is ranked as the nation’s top city for bicycle traveling. Bender also holds a masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning and completed coursework towards a PhD in Urban Studies with Regional Science specialization, including classes in Traffic Engineering, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Travel Demand Modeling. In Portland, he learned about community cycling and community togetherness.
He would like to see Mansfield transform into a more bike-friendly community.
That is why he co-founded Richland Moves!, a group that is devoted to enhancing mobility and accessibility by improving awareness, safety, convenience and comfort of walking and biking in urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods.
Mansfield is not Portland. How does Mansfield get there?
“Portland was like Mansfield. It took a lot of determination to turn it around, they just have a head start. Thirty years ago they were just like the rest of the country,” said Bender.
He reassured that he does not want the bike shop to be known as the Paul Bender Bike Shop and stressed the importance of working together as a community. He referenced a children’s book by the name of “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown. The story is a metaphor for working together to achieve a goal. And that is what Paul Bender is all about.
On Tuesday, April 22, the possible center made its first step in becoming a reality with receiving its first donated bicycle. To learn more about how to donate bikes, tools, and equipment contact Paul Bender through the group Richland Moves!.
For more information on Richland Moves!, visit their Facebook page. They meet publicly each month in the Richland County Municipal Public Library on the second floor in the conference room.
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