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Struthers officials close skate park
By jeanne starmack
struthers
The city has closed its skate park.
The park, at the corner of Sexton and Elm streets near the municipal building, has been the target of complaints from neighbors over the past several years. Neighbors complained of noise — including loud profanity from kids who used the park — and litter.
The city restricted the hours, closing the park at 5 p.m. Neighbors across the street still kept signs on their houses proclaiming the park had been forced on them.
The city had an offer to move the park, which consists mainly of a concrete pad and some ramps.
Allied Waste Services offered to move the equipment to Mauthe Park, City Council Parks and Recreation Chairwoman Carol Crytzer told council at its May 9 meeting.
But neighbors near Mauthe Park said they did not want the skate park there either, Crytzer said Wednesday.
“They’re just afraid of destruction,” she said. “It’s a beautiful park.”
The city council decided at a finance-committee meeting May 16 to close the park.
Crytzer said the council considered other options first. MillCreek MetroParks, which leases Yellow Creek Park, did not want the liability. The Fifth Street Park has no bathrooms, she said.
Crytzer said that there was never a public hearing, vote or ordinance to build the park, and so there was no reason to have a vote on the floor at a regular council meeting.
She said she made a motion at the finance meeting to move the park, which did not get a second. Council then voted unanimously to close the park.
There is now a sign on it that says it is closed permanently. The city will dismantle the equipment.
Crytzer said that as far as she’s concerned, “the people have spoken.”
She said she hasn’t heard any complaints about the park’s being closed.
Councilman Tony Fire, who is also on the parks and recreation committee, said he believes the skate park should have been moved to a city park.
“We had the perfect opportunity to move it,” he said. “It wouldn’t have cost taxpayers a penny.
“But unless we could find a place, we’ve got to close it,” he said.
The park was built in 2006 with $70,000 in donations. The idea was to give kids a place to use their skateboards instead of on sidewalks and in business parking lots.
The city has an ordinance against skateboarding on public sidewalks, said Mayor Terry Stocker. That includes sidewalks at the city parks, he said.
The Struthers Fraternal Order of Police bought two city lots for the park for $3,500 and sold them to the city for $1.
Stocker said the city solicitor is researching to see whether the city can keep the property or whether it must be returned to the FOP.