In these demanding and troubled economic times, proponents of many worthy projects appear before a governing body asking for public money to help finance their programs. Let’s hear it for a local group that is willing to pay for its venture if the Lawrence City Commission will only provide a little land.

A local group is interested in setting up and totally paying for a BMX bicycle track. It may take more than $50,000, even as much as $100,000, to get it done, but David Ross and the new Lawrence Area Recreation Riders Initiative are willing to do the fund-raising, at no taxpayer expense, if the city will set aside some land for them, perhaps adjacent to the YSI sports complex south of town.

“What we’re trying to do is promote healthy lifestyles through bicycling,” Ross recently told the commission. “BMX is really catching back on. It was big in the ’70s and ’80s and then it went through a lull, but it caught back on fire again.”

The track would be for both youths and adults and could aid in the growing effort to encourage exercise and good health. The fact is, many youngsters spend too much time with their electronic playthings and do not get nearly enough exercise. A BMX track might not make a huge dent in this trend but even mild gains are a step in the right direction.

Many details would have to be worked out, including the supervision of a BMX facility, but the early view is that the track would have a number of merits, not the least of which that the proponents are not begging for public funds but are willing to raise the money themselves.

Whether there will be protest groups for such an activity remains to be seen, but unless there are some major reasons why Lawrence should not have a BMX track, paid for by the people who create it, it would seem the city should help out those willing to raise the money and do the work.