The Rotary Skate Park in North Battleford has joined the long list of areas of the city that have been improved with an eye towards improving safety.
The project has included a new paint job to improve its look. A partnership was forged with the Discovery Co-op Communities In Full Colour program, which provides paint for projects that improve the well-being of the community.
A local artist, Curtis Bear, agreed to paint the surface of the Skate Park, with the other users of the park assisting him.
The idea to improve the look of the park stemmed from a Concern for Youth barbecue from Aug. 5 of last year.
Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton and Nicole Combres of the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club attended with the goal of holding a discussion with youth about community safety at the skate park.
According to a Discovery Co-op news release, it was evident from the youth surveys they were not going to achieve the results they hoped for, so they tried a different approach. Combres ended up sitting in the middle of the skate surface while the youth skateboarded around her, and that led to the youth opening up and talking about safety at the park itself.
Suggestions for improvements were made, and that led to the formation of an ad hoc committee to look into improving the situation.
The first skate park committee meeting took place Aug. 13 including Sutton, Combres, City Parks Foreman Gord Whitton and Brennan Lampitt, owner of Freedom Skate and Snow.
Since that date, this group has worked with the youth implementing the suggestions originally provided last year.
Since then a number of changes have taken place at the Skate Park. According to the Co-op news release that includes graffiti removal, the addition of NB Safe and Crime Stoppers signage, the removal of boulders from the middle of the surface, improved garbage cans, improved park benches and surface cleaning tools provided by Freedom Skate and Snow.
The decision to paint the surface at the Skate Park was to improve the aesthetics of the park and was part of a plan to deter further graffiti and tagging there.
