When we think of great things happening in Bremerton these days the things that seem to qualify are often connected federal government jobs, a grant of some sort that passes through city hall or the works done by any one of the active churches or charities centered on Veneta Avenue.

Let’s add to those good works a burgeoning little remote-control race car track built on the previously rotting city tennis courts at 11th Street and Warren Avenue. Yes, on that street corner, where little good has happened for years, a small local business and a few hobbyists built a different kind of playground, one that appeals to ageless children. What’s also great about the RC track is that a Bremerton small business owner took the initiative to better his own situation in a way that also benefits a community that has for some time been blighted by a violent stereotype.

An eyesore was turned into a fun factory; simple and great.

Monday evening’s series of six-minute races drew more than a few people from the neighborhood and through gate to gather around the track and see what was happening on one of the most visible intersections in the city. Cars that daily pass by saw something different than the usual emptiness. They saw RC racers, mostly adult men, offering to share their furiously fast toys and track to run them on with anyone from the neighborhood that showed interest.

One neighborhood resident sitting on the grass, watching other men lined up on the platform deftly working the controls of little quarter-scale cars, summed up the new situation at 11th and Warren well and with a positive tone in his voice, “Grown men being boys.”