Do the Youths Deserve a New Skatepark?

It's now been 24 hours since I last received a physical threat via Facebook Messenger, which means I'm clearly overdue for another blog post. And what's more controversial in Welland at the moment than the skatepark debate?

The debate's been going on for years between two groups of people - believers and non-believers. It's been dying down in the last little while, but now that the City Council has decided we will be getting the skatepark by 2017, the debate flared up again. Anyone reading this should already know which camp I'm in, so this article might be a bit biased. But I'll do my best to take a balanced look at the big question...

Do the youths of Welland really deserve a new skatepark, or are they just a bunch of juvenile delinquents?

The most common argument I've heard against the skatepark is that the current one attracts too many ne'er-do-wells. We should we build a new one when the current one is apparently full of drug dealers and other assorted criminals? This belief might have some foundation, but I don't think the skatepark contains anywhere near as much criminal activity as some Wellanders seem to expect. I pass by the skatepark on the canal path on quite a regular basis, at all hours of the day and occasionally into the night. Not once have I witnessed anything questionable there at all. 

I can't help but wonder if this belief doesn't come from the old stereotype that all skateboarders are juvenile delinquent types, which isn't really true. Do people just look at a kid with ripped jeans and a flat-brimmed cap and assume he must be a cocaine dealer? Beats me. Personally, I'd be willing to bet that more drug deals take place in school washrooms than at the skatepark. I know because I've walked in on them.

Just to add one more point about that issue before I move on, imagine if the skatepark really was populated exclusively by people on the NRP's Most Wanted list. Mayor Campion assigned Welland's CAO, Gary Long, to choose a location for the new skatepark. It's quite likely that Long will choose a high-profile location for the $600,000 project. So if the new facility were built in a location where people tend to congregate (the current one is a bit tucked away), then surely the crime rate there would drop.

Another big argument against the new skatepark is that the current one has been so heavily vandalized. This is true, and there's no getting around it - the current skatepark is covered in graffiti, and I don't mean the cool street art kind. However, it's not hard to see why this might be. The skatepark, as it sits, is more useful as a canvas for 'tags' than for skateboarding. It's in a state of disrepair and it simply isn't safe to use. Also, its cheap construction makes it quite difficult to remove graffiti from it once it's been put there, and I can only assume that covering it in layers of paint would make it even less conducive to skateboarding on.

Furthermore, before you blame the youth community for this part of the problem, consider the fact that the 2 most recent graffiti-related arrests in Welland both involved legal adults - one of whom was a well-grown man at 31 years of age, making him old enough to be the father of most people who use the skatepark. Though if Welland's most recent gossip is any indication, the other guy arrested for graffiti - an 18-year-old - was also old enough to father some of the people who use the skatepark, if you catch my drift.

In any case, the movement of the skatepark to a more public location ought to be enough to deal with the graffiti issue as well.

Yet another argument against it is the cost. Admittedly, $600,000 is quite a lot for a skatepark, but it's because the city wants it to be a good one. Look at the skatepark in Port Colborne, which ours is supposed to rival, and you'll get an idea of why the cost is as high as it is. And since one-third of the money will (hopefully) be coming from the Federal government, this expenditure will certainly be worthwhile. It's about time the youth of Welland got something new - and the taxpayers aren't even paying anything extra for it (the money's just been moved around in the budget, so your tax dollars are already gone one way or the other.) For everyone who complains that there's nothing for kids to do here, the solution is staring you in the face - why are you rallying against it?

And one more thing. I just have to respond to the argument put forth by Councillor DiMarco at this week's city council meeting. He said he couldn't support the idea of spending so much money on a skatepark when we have roads in need of fixing. Well, here's a question to the masses: if the roads are so important, why on earth did we spend $100,000 on a giant TV screen nobody wanted, and $5.8 MILLION on repainting a bridge for non-existent tourists?

I eagerly await your responses. And please, keep it civil: all death threats should, at the very least, begin with "Dear Mr. Smagata..."