It has been reported elsewhere that the Selectboard will do prospective skatepark site visits on Monday Aug 4th, from 5:30 to 7. They’ll be going from Elm St to Crowell, then Living Memorial Park. It was requested that skaters attend to provide input. I am unable to attend, so I’m providing my feedback here. I’ve been thinking about this—again—lately, confounded whether to shut up, or push through to the end, come what may.
It seems to me for a fully informed view, the Selectboard has the opportunity to see three skateparks, all within an hour, that show a working model of each of the current options on the table. Keene, Northampton, Fitchburg. Respectively: a steel and steely downtown park, a new concrete plaza in a green space adjacent to homes, and a varied terrain multi-featured skate facility within the town’s mixed-use recreation center, also set in a residential neighborhood. But I don’t expect these visits to happen. And besides they only provide a snapshot of what goes on in the moment. Skatepark energies and usage vary like New England weather.