DeSoto Avenue is a place that many people would like to pretend doesn’t exist, but it does. Shrouded from view for decades by a thick tree cover, it now sits out in the wide open due to the recent clearing of foliage on the hillside in between DeSoto and East Prairie avenues.

A young man, Torrance Stone, died here earlier this year, and I know for a lot of people, it’s not their problem. But it is our problem because like a smoldering campsite fire, it becomes our problem if we ignore it long enough.