3 questions with Peter Benkendorf (including the idea for a go-kart track downtown)

Peter Blenkendorf, is the founder of The Collaboratory, a organization that develops community initiatives. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Peter Blenkendorf, is the founder of The Collaboratory, a organization that develops community initiatives. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Editor’s Note: “Three questions with...” is a new weekly feature in Ideas & Voices. Each week, hear from a different local leader respond to a series of three questions. Submit your own answers to the questions in the form below for consideration in a future edition.

Peter Benkendorf directs The Collaboratory, Dayton’s non-profit civic innovation lab which he founded in Chicago in 1992 and relocated to Dayton in 2009.

What do you love most about your city?

There are a lot of really cool people doing really cool things. It is what keeps me inspired.

What issue in do you feel needs more attention in our communities?

Not enough valuing of individual talent and innovative ideas. Too many silos.

What’s your Big Idea for the Dayton region?

A go-kart track on the roof of the Transportation Center garage. This would be the only urban rooftop go-kart track in the United States and would single-handedly transform downtown and the region by providing a whole new narrative. It would also help attract business to the Convention Center and be a catalyst for further downtown development.