Some of the best skateboarders showed off their tricks in East Vancouver this weekend, more than a year after a rally to save a nearby skate park from being shut down.
The Vans Pro Skate Park series is being hosted at the Hastings Skate Park, one of Canada’s premiere venues for the sport. However, last spring, close to a hundred people rallied to a save a Mount Pleasant skate park at Ontario and East 16th Avenue, after noise complaints from neighbours prompted the Park Board to consider shutting it down.
Within the last few months, the Park Board’s 10-year skateboard strategy expired and, so far, there’s been no talk of renewing it. It’s left Jeff Cole, the president of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, wondering what will happen next.
“We would like to see the Park Board give us the respect that a world renowned sports facility deserves and allow us to be part of those conversations and move skateboarding forward within Vancouver and the Lower Mainland,” Cole said.
Cole said the board has been receptive and willing to work with the coalition in the past. He’s hopeful new parks will be built soon.
“With skateboarding possibly moving into the Olympics, there’s a need for a Western Canadian training facility,” Cole said.
There are nine parks in Vancouver, with the Hastings Skate Park being one of the oldest. Adam Hopkins, a professional skateboarder in the city, said the current facilities are good, but not great.
Their hope is new skate park will be added when the Georgia and Dunsmuir Street viaducts come down and the North East False Creek design is finalized.
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