Skate parks in Montreal are gaining in popularity as boarders, roller-bladers and scooter-riders grow in numbers.
The opposition at Montreal City Hall says the city is not doing enough to keep up with demand.
They’re calling for more skateparks and reduced fees at those that charge.
Kevin Vaillancourt has been skateboarding for 23 years. He’s seen the sport explode in popularity and says skate parks are starting to get a little too crowded.
“Super young kids skate too and it’s hard sometimes to skate with super young people just trying to learn,” Vaillancourt said.
There are 29 skate parks across Montreal and only TAZ on Papineau Avenue is indoors.
City hall opposition says attendance has more than doubled in the past few years and it shows the need for more facilities of its kind.
“We think that we absolutely need to have a broader vision on what is required to answer the new needs,” said Coun. Benoit Langevin.
Langevin says the city needs to accelerate the development of skate parks and programs.
He says facilities like Taz should not cost $12 to $17 to use.
The co-founder of the Skateboard MTL Association, Yann Fily-Paré, agrees.
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He argues the city has grown and improved its skate park infrastructure in the past few years, but Montreal still lags behind other Canadian cities. Fily-Paré wants more skate parks created that can double as youth centres.
“Everyone merges at the skatepark, it’s amazing. It’s intergenerational, there’s kids but there are also people 50 years old and more and there are people of different socio-economic backgrounds,” Fily-Paré says.
Coun. Sterling Downey says his administration has been building more skateparks since it took office in 2013 and will continue to do so.
But creating more indoor facilities is too challenging.
“It would be the equivalent of building an arena without ice,” Downey said. “It’s just finding the space to build the building like that.”
The opposition party plans to submit a motion with its demands at the next council meeting on Aug. 21.
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