'We just want to skateboard'

Don Fraser
The Standard, Feb 22, 2002

(Kathy) Huckla

(Doug) Dorsey

They feel like outlaws in their own town.

But skateboarders, in-line skaters and BMX bike riders in St. Catharines have no intention of being driven out of sight.

"Every day is the same thing-- they kick you out," said Mitch Dumont, 16.

He's ridden his BMX for four years around the courthouse, the library and other venues.

"Sometimes it's security, sometimes the cops doing it," said the Governor Simcoe Secondary School student, whose BMX is a specially modified bicycle that can perform stunts and manoeuvres.

"I mean, all the cities around us have (a skatepark). We're the only one without it," he said.

"Yea, we're kicked out everywhere," agreed skateboarder Lee Hildebrand, 15, from St. Catharines Collegiate. "We're like targets ... punks, as it were.

"They'll harass us for nothing. We're not trying to cause trouble. We just want to skateboard."

He thought there were perhaps 100 hard-core skateboarders doing kickflips, heelflips and Ollies in downtown St. Catharines.

If you're going to chase us away from parking lots and public spaces, then help us build a skatepark, say the teens.

About 30 people attended a community meeting of the St. Catharines Skatepark Committee Thursday at the Russell Avenue Community Centre to get the wheels rolling for such a site.

With city council approving a skatepark in principle, now is the time for skaters and BMX-biker enthusiasts to turn their frustration into action, said City of St. Catharines recreation supervisor Kathy Huckla.

"We need to start fundraising and public awareness events -- and tonight we want to get some of those events organized," she said.

Huckla said there would be monthly meetings, with presentations given to local service groups and potential skatepark users to nail down issues about location and design.

So far, the committee is zeroing in on a permanent concrete park, with two preferred sites, including the lower-level parking lot below St. Paul Street and beneath the Garden City Skyway off Bunting Road.

City Councillor Jamie Almas was at the meeting and said he was concerned about the city's liability because of skatepark users not wearing helmets and protective gear.

He was told by skaters and skatepark-builder representative Doug Dorsey that experienced skaters generally didn't wear helmets, but serious injuries in cities with skateparks were extremely rare or non-existent.

"I've never worn a helmet in an outside park, never," one young skater said.

The municipality has to decide how it wants to enforce rules in a park, said Dorsey, whose company has offices in Mississauga and Burlington.

According to Huckla, about $230,000 has been included in the city's draft capital budget for the park. However, that amount could change and there's an expectation a lot of that will be covered by fundraising.

The committee expects to approach city council in April with a skatepark status report.

Anyone wanting to help the skatepark committee can contact Kathy Huckla at 905-688-5601, ext. 1566.