Saturday, September 03, 2005

August News

Communities 4 Sk8ers NEWS - August

Skater shines

Regina skater Sarah Molder represented Saskatchewan at the DC National Skateboarding Championship in Vancouver on August 25. She placed seventh in a field of Canada’s top 15 female skaters. Pretty good for an 11-year-old in her first national event!

More Community Support

At their June 13 meeting, the Ecole Connaught Community School Council passed the following motion:

Motion: That the Council President write a letter to the Mayor and City Council supporting North Les Sherman Park/Turtle Park as the location for the new skatepark.

Dumont/Arndt

CARRIED

Skaters raise $$$

Regina’s skateboard community raised $2000 at the Lords of Honktown silent auction in August. The proceeds are to place a memorial to skater Edward Lugt at the new skatepark. As a community, let’s do our bit to make sure the skatepark is worthy of this memorial. Second rate won’t do!

Thanks to Volunteers

A big thank-you to Bill Kos of the Cathedral Area Community Association for inputting 1,200 names and addresses into the data base he created for the pro-skatepark petition (There are still more many names to enter if anyone would like to help).

Thanks to all who have volunteered for the Skatepark Stewards Network. So far nine people living by Les Sherman have put their names on a list of volunteers who will keep an eye on the skatepark.

A big thank you to Jan Beednell of Prairie Print Clipping, who volunteered to clip and send us skate park-related newspaper clippings from around the province, free of charge.

Quote of the Day

British Columbia’s skateboarders have brought international distinction to our city with their achievements.” - Mayor Larry Campbell, upon declaring August 22-28 Skateboarding Week in the City of Vancouver.

Ring Those Phones

Those of us who have been talking to our city councilors have been getting the same message: if you want a skatepark, you need to make a call to each and every councilor, and to the Mayor. This is a lot of work, but we’ve been told it’s worth it. Most councilors have not heard anything positive about the site selection - they have only heard that "the residents are against it".

A good start is to concentrate on the Council members who are on the Parks Committee. The recommended location will be presented to Council by this committee, so it’s important to make sure they’re on side. The Parks members are:

Bill Gray, Chair 761-0919

Terry Hincks 949-9690

Jerry Flegel 777-6689

Wade Murray 596-1035

Bill Hutchinson 584-1739

Points to make:

  • We want the process to be respected and not have the Mayor saying a decision against the park proposal has already been made, before the Parks Committee has deliberated.
  • There are many more people in favour of a skatepark in North Les Sherman than are against.
  • Skaters, police and engineers agreed on North Les Sherman as the best, safest location.
  • Skaters gave the site 25 out of 25 possible points as the place they would like to be. It’s not right to invite their involvement and then ignore what they have to say,
  • The surrounding community is willing to pull together to support the park and the kids who skate it.
  • Part of making youth feel valued is to share public space with them, rather than shoving them off to the edge of the city. We are prepared to welcome youth to our neighbourhood and to Les Sherman Park.

Sweet!Here’s a picture of a Van der Zalm/New Line skatepark planned for Swift Current (in a park!).


1 Comments:

At 6:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Word is the Swift Current skatepark is open and it's AWESOME. Is it true?

 

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