The right thing to do.

Friday afternoon I was walking along Queen Street in front of the Court House when I saw three youth — about 15 or 16 years old — roll up to the Cenotaph on their skateboards. The picked up their boards, climbed the steps, and then proceeded to skate on the various surfaces, attempting jumps and flips and other boarding tricks.

I called to them, and told them that the Cenotaph is a war memorial, not a skate park, and asked them to go and skate somewhere else. Two of the youth shrugged but picked up their boards and began to leave. The third, however, objected to being asked to leave. He said he didn’t see what the "big deal" was, and asked why it was okay for people to walk and ride their bikes there, but it wasn’t okay to skateboard.

I told him that people ought not to be riding bikes on it, but explained that people were certainly permitted to walk up the steps and admire the cenotaph for what it is: a monument to those who sacrificed their lives so that we can have the freedom we currently enjoy.

The young lad then made the comment, "Well, if they don’t want us to skate here, why don’t they build us a skate park?"

I don’t think he believed me, but I told him I agreed, that the City should build a skate park. I also said that just because there isn’t one doesn’t mean he can just skate wherever he wants until one is built.

That’s what makes a situation like this a very circular problem.

Young people like these skaters should know where it is and is not appropriate to skate. Whether or not they respect this is another story.

I understand why we can’t permit skaters to do their thing on any and every wheelchair ramp, planter box, and stair railing in the city. Skateboards do leave ugly black marks, scratches, and in some cases cause damage to the surfaces the skaters use for their tricks.

On the other hand, there really is nothing wrong with skateboarding as an activity. So why don’t we have a number of skate parks in this City?

We’ve put ourselves into a confrontational situation with these youth by chasing them off both private and public property, but not giving them a place where they can enjoy skateboarding.

Yes, there is a skate park of sorts which is set-up in a section of the parking lot at the Queen Elizabeth Pool. It consists of a number of wooden ramps, steel pipe slides and other moveable structures, all of which rest on a level patch of asphalt. I’m not a skater, but even I can see how lame this is.

Meanwhile, fifty kilometres down the highway, the Town of Bruce Mines has a killer skate park.

So why don’t we? And not just one. Why should kids have to travel most of the way across town to get to the one and only skate park? Why isn’t the City installing several of these in neighbourhood parks around town?

We have parks with swings and slides and climbing apparatus. We have school yards with baseball diamonds and basketball courts. We have baseball fields and soccer pitches. We have hockey arenas and swimming pools.

Why don’t we have skate parks? This is an activity that many young people enjoy and in which a fair number participate. They’re outdoors in the fresh air and getting exercise; what could be better than that?

I will state emphatically that I have no tolerance for young people who refuse to show respect for private and public property, and insist on skating where they know — or ought to know, or have been told — that they should not. I will not defend anyone’s narcissistic "right" to do whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want.

But that does not describe the majority of skaters. Most are, I believe, just average kids out looking to have some fun. Maybe us "old fogeys" don’t understand it, and we certainly aren’t about to try it ourselves. That doesn’t make this activity any less valid for them.

Showing respect for private and public property, and showing respect for memorials to honour those who died in the cause of freedom: that’s the right thing to do.

Showing our young people some respect, and providing them with an opportunity to engage in an activity they enjoy and which provides them with much-needed exercise: that’s the right thing to do, too.