Sean C. Morgan
Neighbors of the city’s skate park are getting sick and tired of the language and behavior among the youth using the park, according to two who complained about the issue to the City Council last week.
Olivia Kilpatrick and Dan Kilpatrick told the council during its regular meeting on Nov. 8 that the city needs to do something about it.
“We can’t sit down with our kids for dinner without hearing the foul language,” Olivia Kilpatrick said. Children under 10 are there every day with all of this going on, and people pull up on the wrong side of the street honking their horns to pick up children.
One of the youths, as big as her, stood up one of the pieces of equipment and then dropped it to the ground, coming inches from hitting a smaller child, she said.
“The park’s being run by ruffians,” Dan Kilpatrick said. A neighbor was at the park with her young children a couple of days earlier, and some girls were cussing and using the “f-word.” The woman said something about it. She was told that “if she didn’t effing like it, she could take her effing kids and go home.”
Sixth- through eighth-graders were beating up on the smaller children another day, he said.
There should be someone over there early every day to lock the park before dark, Dan Kilpatrick said.
Other neighbors are having the same issues with the park, he said, but they couldn’t be at the council meeting that night.
The problems are worst when school is out, Olivia Kilpatrick said.
And it’s been escalating, Dan Kilpatrick said. “I don’t see anything but it getting worse, or I wouldn’t be here right now.”
It’s a problem elsewhere too, said Councilor Scott McKee Jr. “I was walking through Sankey Park when I was told I needed to get the eff out of there. I was walking through a city park.”
But he can’t call the city police over swearing, McKee said.
Police Chief Bob Burford told the council that the Police Department does respond to calls at the skate park, but they’re usually not police issues.
At the same time, the park isn’t as controlled as it was, Burford said, adding that he imagines that it’s getting worse there.
City Manager Craig Martin said the reports reminded him of problems that occurred when the park opened and some patrons were not using it appropriately.
The city has closed the park entirely before, noted Mayor Craig Fentiman.
Martin said he would look into the problem with Community Development Director Carol Lewis, determine what kind of problems there are and how the city might address them.
The park was locked when it was new, Martin said. About four years ago, the city stopped locking it because of staffing. The park hadn’t had any problems to the best of his knowledge. He said he suspected the problems are being caused by a group that’s come into the park, similar to when it opened
Locking the park at night won’t stop the problems with foul language, Martin said.
He noted that the park has had problems recently with litter.
Present at the meeting were councilors Marybeth Angulo, Fentiman, Jim Gourley, Greg Mahler, McKee and Ron Rodgers. Mike Hall was absent.