Dark side to skate craze

THERE’S not only kick-flips and ollies going on at two of Casey’s skate parks – there’s lots of anti-social behaviour as well.
Now the City of Casey will investigate what it can do to stop the behaviour and alleviate the concerns of the local community.
At last week’s council meeting, councillors supported a motion which would see officers meet with Cranbourne police to investigate ongoing concerns with the skate parks at Merinda Park and at Preswick Green, in Brookland Greens.
The council will also investigate sensor lights installed at skate parks in other municipalities to determine their effectiveness and cost – given most of the behaviour is happening at night.
Mayor Amanda Stapledon, who moved the motion, said she was highlighting concers that had been bought to her attention by the community.
“It would seem that most of the vandalism and anti-social behaviour is occurring during the darker hours and is posing a potential threat to the residents who live in the area,” she said.
Merinda Park Learning and Community Centre chief executive Jan Gilchrist said there was lots of anti-social behaviour going on at the Merinda Park skate park.
“There is no lighting around the skate ramp, so it tends to attract the wrong sort of people at night,” she said.
“There is graffiti all over it.
“In recent weeks there’s kids lighting fires under it.
“A couple of weeks ago we caught some kids with boxes of tissues, matches and lighters which we confiscated off them.
“Now the grass has been cut at the park, and they are gathering it up, putting it under the skate ramp and setting fire to it.”
Ms Gilchrist said it needed to be lit up so the behaviour wouldn’t occur.
“If it was well lit this wouldn’t happen,” she said.
“At the moment is bringing inappropriate behaviour to the area.
“It’s not usually the guys there that skate and want to use it for that purpose, its others that are purely there to vandalise.
“It’s a great facility and appears to be well used, but at the moment it just looks like a real dump.”
A report on the council’s findings will come back to the first council meeting in February.