The city of Perryville’s Parks and Recreation Department gained much-needed clarity on the possibility of a new skate park at a public meeting earlier this month.
For about 45 minutes in the Council chambers, several individuals provided comments on what needs done to complete a skate park which will be a part of the city’s recreation offering in the future.
Public comment was taken from several individuals.
“The old skate park, we had a big hand in building it, and a lot of us used it pretty much daily,” said Dave Tucker. “It was a big hit when we lost it. I wanted to be able to have a new park to access for myself and our children. I thought (the discussion) went well. It seemed like we had a positive interaction with everyone. We are on the right way to get a new skate park.”
The details of where it coud be located weren’t a part of last week’s discussion.
“Locations, we’re not really sure on,” Tucker said. “We’ve talked to them a few times about a couple of spots but they don’t have anything concrete until they do what they have to do. To make it a successful project, I’m not really sure. It needs a lot, to make sure we make it some-thing for the skaters and not just something that’s going to be a waste. That’s what everyone is afraid of. It’s going to be built as just a (skate) park and no one’s going get to use it. It’s not going to be a useable park. There are a lot of (skate) parks out there that aren’t even usable.”
Asked about the skating community now, Tucker responded: “They’re still out there doing it.”
He continued, “Everyone that’s skating now…they are either going to other parks or…what a lot of us do is go to a basketball court in the park…anywhere there is flat ground. They’re trying to survive. There is still a core group of guys, younger than me, they were just getting into skate-boarding whenever (the old skate) park got destroyed.”
Tucker pointed out the “bureaucracy of it all” led to the old skate park losing favor. Meetings were held and discussions occurred, Tucker noted.
“The people that originated the park had moved away, and the people that were left,” Tucker said. “The people that were still skating weren’t set up to be able to build onto it. It had gotten to a point where we could use it effectively the whole way it was. It was good. It worked…It kind of just slipped through the cracks on us. By the time we realized what was going on, it got destroyed.”
What used to be the area of the skating area on Feltz Street is now a child’s park with swings, according to Tucker.
“I think that it went well,” said Tim Godlove. “The city is showing that that’s something they’re going to do in the budget and they’ve been planning on it for a while, to have another skate park in Perryville. I feel that the people who attended the meeting, the consensus was, ‘Let’s do it right,’ even if that means taking a little more time.
“Let’s build it like some of the other (skate) parks in neighboring communities that have been successful, use those as examples,” Godlove said.
Godlove was asked what will determine if a skate park is successful.
“I think it’s going to be involvement with the Board (of Aldermen), setting up a budget, and planning a good location for it, and then knowing what they have already set in motion, and then for them to be involved with the community…we want to do something that the commu-nity can be proud of and people can be using it.”
“People had pride in the previous skate park,” Godlove noted. “That generation understand that. We policed it ourselves, (but) it wasn’t taken care of in certain way.”
At the Dec. 15 meeting, Godlove preached patience.
“We need to do it right, even though that might take a little more time and more work, but if it’s done right it will police itself,” he said.
If there is buy-in from the community and those who plan on using it, it can benefit the community, according to Godlove.
“Typically, if it’s built by skaters you know it’s going to be a good that’s really useful. We had gone through and re-built things that weren’t working.”
During a quiet moment at the meeting, Ward 1 Alderman Tom Guth asked, “Do you guys care where it’s at?”
While not directed at anyone in particular, there was one answer that came through loud and clear: “We don’t care where it’s at, as long as it exists, man,” Tucker said.
Godlove credited the city for recent efforts to revitalizing the parks, band shell, and downtown area.