Published in the October 5, 2015 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Skaters will soon have a place to call their own. Possibly by the end of the month.
The sparkling new Galvin Middle School grounds will be home to a well-lit skate park on the south end of the Main Street side of the property. The Permanent Building Committee learned last week during an update that cracks in the cement base have been repaired and representatives of a California-based company that sells the skate park equipment will be in town later this month to install the various ramps and half pipes.
The skate park’s base rises up just beyond the new basketball courts. The park is being funded as part of the $74.6 million Galvin Middle School project.
Permanent Building Committee Chairman Joseph Bertand said this morning that the park was able to be funded in the project because of money the town saved by not having soil trucked off site; rather, some of the soil was moved to the south end of the Main Street side of the property to become part of the skate park’s base.
The Galvin property for a very short time was the site of the town’s first skate park, but those using it were so unruly and disrespectful of neighbors living on Armory Street that the selectmen decided to close it. That park was funded mostly through $51,000 approved at the April 2001 Town Meeting. Back then, skate park proponents said such a facility would reduce complaints to police about nuisance skateboarders.
On average, police received 19 complaints a month about skateboarders in the run up to the April 2001 Town Meeting. Most of those complaints were for skateboarders using places like St. Joseph Church and the Beebe Library property to perform various stunts and tricks on their boards and blades.
