WATCH: The Vancouver Park Board will meet on Monday to decide the fate of a skateboard park in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. It could be demolished because neighbours say the park is too noisy. A crowd of about kids and their parents rallied today to keep it where it is. Nadia Stewart has more.
More than a hundred kids, parents and skateboard enthusiasts descended on a Mt. Pleasant skate park on Sunday morning, rallying to keep it from being torn down.
The park at Ontario Street and 16th Avenue is only three years old, but a number of complaints about noise has prompted the Vancouver Park Board to re-evaluate the skate park’s location and future. Some who live nearby say the park gets used after dark and by more experienced skateboarders than it wasn’t intended for. Now, the Vancouver Park Board is considering a variety of options, including demolishing the park and making the area a green space.
READ MORE: Vancouver skate park built 3 years ago might be torn down due to noise complaints
Those who use the park don’t want to see it torn down.
“There are people who go to this school and live in this community that want to use it every day. So, why would you take something away? It just doesn’t make any sense,” says Jordan Kryzanowski, whose children use the park after school.
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He and hundreds more are hoping that today’s rally, combined with a growing online petition, will be enough to sway the Park Board.
Vancouver School Board trustee Patti Bacchus says the park is a safe space where youth can also be active. She’s hoping some kind of compromise can be found between those who want to save the park and those who don’t.
“I really believe as we become a more crowded city, we have to find ways to be good neighbours and work together to ensure that everybody’s needs are understood. And we do sometimes have to find compromise and I think that can happen in this case.”
Many of those who attended today’s rally say they’ll also be at tomorrow’s Park Board meeting at 7 p.m. PT, including young Ronan Doucette, who uses the park after school.
“You feel really free when you skate. It’s super fun. It’s an awesome experience.
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