Skateboarders get it back in Belmont
By LORI INGHAM
Aug 28, 2007 at 3:15 AM Aug 28, 2007 at 5:39 AM
Parks and Recreation Director Janet Breton made a deal with the local skateboarders and bikers that inhabited the skateboard area in Sargent Park: If they helped to clean it up, the monthlong closing of the skate park would end.
Breton anticipated seeing 15 children and teenagers. Instead, she received help from 20, all dedicated to the task of making sure the park would open and remain that way.
The town closed the park on Aug. 18, amid complaints of litter and vandalism. Breton initially asked for a week's closing, but the Board of Selectmen said that a month would send the message that the park had to be taken care of. At the last selectman's meeting, Breton told the selectmen that, after discussions with some of the skateboarders and bikers in the area, she proposed that the users clean up the mess and paint over the graffiti that was there and, maybe, after a discussion about taking care of the park, the Parks and Recreation Department would consider reopening the park.
Not only did the youths help with the skate park, they also helped in the repair of benches in the main park as well as putting out loam for park gardens and grassy areas.
After rewarding the volunteers with pizza, Breton sat down with them to outline the goals for improvements in the park. The goal was to find out what the youths really wanted in the park and also to outline what should be done about vandalism and litter in the park.
Some suggested putting in a half-pipe in addition to the quarter-pipe ramp that is there now. Others suggested putting in barrels to jump over on bikes and skateboards, with some saying that they were currently using the trash barrels for that purpose.
"If I give you stuff special to the skate park, will you use that?" Breton asked. All answered in the affirmative.
Some suggestions were affordable, such as putting out more trash cans and putting in a "little kid" area. Other suggestions were more outlandish, such as a swimming pool for skating or swimming. But Breton said that she would look into each of their ideas and see what was doable.
"The goal is to have an ongoing discussion," Breton said. "If they love the skate park, they'll respect what's here."
Fourteen-year-old Nick Dawes said that the closure of the park had forced him to search for other safe skateboarding spots in town, which he said were not many.
"I already feel like I own this park," he said.
Dawes said that, in general, the graffiti did not bother him, although he said he was not happy with the more inappropriate things.
"There were swastikas spray-painted on here for a year," he said, pointing to the skate ramp behind him. "But as long as it's something nice, it doesn't bother me."
The kids talked about putting their own artwork on the equipment, but Breton told them that it had to be sanctioned by the park and had to go through her first.
"We do not just want them to come in and add graffiti," she said. "Otherwise, it is illegal and vandalism."
The skateboarders and bikers will be planning a graffiti day with Breton sometime in the next few weeks to decorate the equipment.