1. Why does it not matter if it was a skateboarder who did the graffiti or not? Since closing the park down only provides motivation to people who use the park to provide information, and since chances are that if someone who doesn’t use the park did the graffiti they wouldn’t be known to those who do, then closing the park seems to imply that the city officials believe it was a user of the park who did it. If they city officials believed it was not a use of the park then why would they have closed the park? I’m not being confrontational, I really want to know. If they only opened it because they got cameras, then ok, I can understand that even if I don’t necessarily agree with it.

2. Wow, I’m surprised the city paid for cameras. I mean, more power to them but is it worth it? I don’t know what they cost but I’m guessing they’re not cheap. But then again what does the government ever do that is inexpensive?

3. I agree it’s the city’s right to close the park whenever they feel like it, for whatever reason. It’s their park, it doesn’t belong to skaters (unless those skaters are paying taxes to that city). My point is that the city’s actions in this case don’t seem to have met the city’s needs, or perhaps there are better ways to handle this type of situation that would meet the city’s needs without the park being closed.

4. Call ahead? What number do I call? I looked all over the South Jordan city website and couldn’t find any information about the skate park. I’d love to be able to tell if a skatepark was open or closed before going there. If there is somewhere I can call can I also get information on the weekends?

5. If this isn’t a case of the establishment vs. skateboarders then why has the establishment been punishing skateboarders? When a city closes a public skatepark they make it a case of skateboarders vs. the city. Sometimes that may be reasonable because it may be completely the fault of skateboarders, but if it is “those people who can’t handle not spraypainting everything” then why should skateboarders be the ones who are punished rather than the people who actually committed the crime?

Now in response to a few other comments, although skateboarders may come from outside the city that doesn’t mean they don’t contribute anything to the skatepark. Every time a skateboarder comes to the park and then spends some money nearby on gas, food, or anything else they are contributing indirectly to the city’s coffers. It might be minimal, but it is something.

Oh, and with those cameras I think that would be great if they hooked those into a website so you could view the feeds in real time, then I could check whether the park is too crowded before I go. That’s the type of high-tech thinking that would look good on a public official’s resume.

So what i got out of your post is that someone came in during park hours, people watch this person spraypaint the park and didnt do anything. If all that is true, i blame who ever watched them do it then and also the people who spraypainted. I dont think it a skateboard vs the establishment argument its just that closing the park for the time frame was blown out of proportion, just as i said before, if that would have happend at a regular park on a slide, would the park have been closed?

However, the city manager makes a point that needs to be addressed here. Regular city parks contain liter, language, beer cans, cigarette butts, in addition to bums, graffiti, and so on but they’re not closed for it. In fact, if language is a problem, we better shut down the schools — I know I learned more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. I’m also aware that the City of Sandy licenses bars, strip clubs, and other seedy businesses within its city limits. If this is such a problem, why does Sandy allow this influence? Furthermore, outsiders do not contribute to the city parks either but you don’t police your parks and kick people out because they don’t pay city taxes.

Also as stated above there is no skate community, i skate with a few friends but mainly by my self and i dont talk with many people at skateparks due to my skating, so please City Leaders dont assume things.

Also here is a chance for a city job to arise, to stop by the park, pick up trash, take care of any plant life around the place, etc.

The goal of a skate park is to stop people from skating public places and “ruining” the look of the area, so why would you expect anything less from a skatepark. Its going to get its curbs waxed, people are going to drop trash (this happens every where) and people are going to smoke and drop the butts. By the way is there an ash tray trash can near by?

To the City Manager,
You are supposed to be a leader in helping the city, you are not supposed to be just shutting things down. Its your responsibility to get things started and keep them rolling, stop putting the blame on other people. You dont see a 4 year old kid cleaning the sand box or a 12 year old kid cleaning the park, there are designated people to do so, so why cant there be a designated person to clean up the skate park?

However, here are some points that it would be valuable for all city officials responsible for public skateparks to understand interspersed with some suggestions.

1. People don’t read large signs with lots of text. Not just skateboarders, but people in general. The percentage of people who actually read the posted rules at a skatepark is probably less than 0.01%. Most skaters just walk in and start skating. If you want to communicate rules effectively to skateboarders then post signs that have one sentence in larger print, like the ones that say there is no biking allowed at the park. Everyone notices those. Put up some signs that say “If we catch people drinking beer here we’ll close the park.” or “If you leave litter in the park we’ll close it.” or something of that nature. It’s hard for people to follow rules they don’t know exist, and people don’t waste time reading fine print on signs any more than they do on their credit card application forms.

2. It’s not realistic for skaters to police each other effectively. Sure, if a kid spills a soda another kid might give him a dirty look or an older kid might tell him to pick it up, but if someone leaves litter in the park nobody else is going to notice because they don’t know it’s being left. Maybe the guy is just riding to another spot of the park and he’ll come back later to get his trash. But is a skater going to wait there for 20 minutes to make sure another guy comes back to get his trash? And you can’t always tell what is litter and what is still being used. Only at the end of the day when the park is being locked up can you truly tell what is litter, and then it’s too late for anyone to police anyone else. Yes, skaters can police themselves as individuals, but not effectively as a community.

3. Many skaters would be willing to participate in helping to clean the park, but most people don’t know what to do. All we’ve got is a sign saying “Hand over the culprits or the park will remain closed.” How about a sign saying “We will be having a clean-up day on such and such a date. You don’t need to bring anything, just come and we’ll have tools for you. If no one shows up the park will remain closed.” By putting up a sign that says that the park will remain closed until the culprit is caught you create the assumption in the minds of everyone that the only way to get the park opened is to turn in the culprit. But I don’t know who the culprit is so I’m helpless to do anything. That’s the mental train of thought that occurred when I saw the sign. If I had known there was a way for me to help clean the park and get it open I would have been glad to participate.

4. Just as an FYI to non-skaters, there is no skate community, per se. Skateboarders generally skate in small groups of 3-4 friends. Therefore, any message put out to “the skate community” has little chance of reaching more than a small fraction of the total number of skateboarders within a certain geographic area. I think sometimes outsiders assume that once one skater knows something they all will, but such is not the case. However, if you want to reach the largest number of skateboarders possible, deliver messages to the local skateshops. Milo is right up the street, and Technique is a little bit farther up Redwood. Skateshop owners are generally more community-minded than the average 14-year old skater and are able and willing to spread the word about caring for a park because it impacts them financially if the park is closed.

5. Some cities might want to consider whether graffiti in a skatepark is a problem worth worrying about. What is the purpose of the skatepark, after all? If it is to keep skaters off of public and private property where they are doing damage, then graffiti in a skatepark is irrelevant. If the purpose of the skatepark is to have a nice place where middle class parents can take their 8-year old who is into skateboarding, then graffiti is indeed a problem and I can see that this might be the case at the SJ skatepark. But for other cities building a skatepark might have everything to do with providing a place to put the skaters to get them off the streets and nothing to do with parents and their children.

6. Good grammar, spelling, and proper construction of sentences is always a plus for public officials.