Lethbridge skateboarding advocate Wade Galloway says now is not the right time to build a new skateboard park.
“The right time was last year or 2007 or 2003 or 2001. The second best time is today,” Galloway told a Southern Alberta Council of Public Affairs forum Thursday.

Calling the building of skateboard parks a “huge issue”, he says the LSA does not want to be brushed off by the city any longer.

  The Lethbridge Skateboard Association is asking for a park steering committee; a $100,000 budget for design, location and costing estimates; accountability on the project with the Lethbridge media and community and the allocation of $400,000 from operating reserves to go towards building the new skate park.
Galloway wrote a letter to city council on behalf of the organization, listing the group’s requests.
“Elections are coming and I have my hand out on behalf of the LSA community and I’m asking, scratch that, I’m demanding money from the public purse.”
The letter is to be addressed by the priorities and agenda committee and a decision will be made Oct. 6.
Galloway says his concern is that a small committee will be deciding the fate of the parks without being transparent to the public.
“The best option the council has is to champion the issue and allocate funding.”
The current skateboard park is in an isolated area in the north side where there is no close access to a public payphone and no public traffic which means children using the park are isolated.
He said 85 per cent of local skateboarders are under age 18.
After Galloway’s presentation, Blaine Hyggen, an aldermanic candidate, also expressed his concerns.
“Where the current park is . . . it can be disheartening,” says Hyggen.
Local businesswoman Penny Elford expressed her concerns with dropping her son Travis off the current park.
“Part of the problem is that I would call to check up on them, but they would be skating from sunup to sundown,” says Elford. “It seems like a shady unattended place to leave your kids.”
Galloway says that the park was created in 1999 to appease local business owners who wanted skateboards off the streets. He points out that the kids were good kids, but “didn’t have a place to go.”
He says the city allocated the designing and construction of the park to the lowest bidder and that this lead to issues due to inexperience.
The city later made graffiti legal on the park surface, which Galloway says was a bad move.
“It sends a message that this area is not looked after and is not important.”
Galloway suggested Galt Gardens or Nicholas Sheran Park as ideal locations for the parks.
He suggested it would bring people and families into central areas while provided accountability and safety for the skateboarders and the facilities.
“I think it’s safe to say that our voice has been heard this time.”