Skaters flip out for park

BY STATON WHALEY

Woollahra Council’s recent revisitation of a proposal for a youth recreation facility at Rushcutters Bay Park has reignited the long term opposition from residents, while local councillors and skateboarders argue it is a positive and necessary addition to the area.

The proposed youth recreation facility will have a basketball court, ping pong tables, and a skatepark, which has seemed to draw the most flak from residents. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation; it’s not going to be a skatepark like Bondi. It’s basically a playground for older kids.” Councillor Megan McEwan, Greens, Woollahra said.

According to fellow Woollahra Liberal councillor Anthony Marano, also representing Cooper Ward, the decision to re-propose the recreational facility came from a new council made up of quite a few young mothers as well as pressure from residents. “Once the kids outgrow the playgrounds, there’s no-where for them to go other than the footpaths.”

Cr McEwan assures local residents that “the location has been taken into account from those comments by moving it to a very busy road that has thousands of cars on it every day that generates far more noise than any playground could ever generate.”

Cr Marano describes opponents’ objections listing graffiti and illicit substances and an aesthetically displeasing facility in an otherwise green park as a ‘nonsense scare campaign’.

“The facility will blend into the environment as there’s lots of green around it. It won’t just be dumped into the middle of the park,” Cr Marano said.

Eastern suburbs skaters often travel to Bondi skatepark, often a considerable distance away.

After a skate session in the Bondi area, thirteen-year-old Lucas Gillibrand, who has been skating for three years, said the potential new facility in Rushcutters Bay Park is “a good look for the area.” “Skating is a popular sport right now,” he continued, “and it keeps people out of doing worse things with their time. There’s not that many parks in the area right now, so having one up there is good for the kids who can’t get to Bondi so easily.”

“If there’s no waves and there wasn’t a skatepark, I’d probably just be at home playing video games.”

Cody Riley, a skater from Waterloo, works at STM skate shop in Bondi Junction. Riley skates on the streets of Waterloo and the Redfern skate park, but would “definitely skate at a park in Rushcutters Bay Park. There’s a lot of people in the city who skate as well, who I’m sure would go there.”

Riley hopes to see a park purpose built for skaters of all levels that will be more condu-cive to training than current Sydney spots. At the parks nearby, like Bondi, “there’s no little stuff. It’s all rather long and big so they need to make more of just gradual steps up. There’s nothing to learn on. There needs to be sections so kids can learn and bigger kids can skate in a different part.”

“For sure it’s a positive thing for the community. I see all the kids come into the shop and hangout here and watch them skate out front, so they could definitely use another place to skate, especially being only a train ride away for a lot of them.”

Currently an online petition Vote YES for Youth Recreational Facilities in Rushcutters Bay Park is gathering support, having reached 2,103 e-signatures out of their 2,500 goal.