Illegal skatepark ramps at Christie Pits to be shredded by the city
The concrete ramps are a lot quieter because they don’t have a metal plate at the bottom. They’re permanent. They don’t splinter, they don’t pop screws. They’re just so much far superior, and any skateboarder can tell you that. The ramps, rails and other structures that make up the makeshift skate park at Christie Pitts take a beating every day, and those that gather here regularly are looking for more overtime. Different obstacles have been built, but the wooden ramps started to rot, so the skate community began building others with concrete. The city says no. It’s our responsibility to be good stewards of public space and to make sure that public space is used by children. Needs acceptable safety standards and words. There now doesn’t. That’s why there are now fences surrounding the work that was started, an official statement from the city says. The community group did not get proper authorization from city staff to build these features and has been advised they are not permitted to build or store construction materials in the park. But I feel like if it’s not like creating any disturbances for the rest of the park, or like causing harm or anything, I don’t see the issue really. Local skaters have been told that unsafe features in the park will be removed. Mitigate risk of injury, but existing wooden ramps can’t remain and will be regularly inspected. Really what we need is the mayor to step in here because she campaigned on fixing parks and that’s really what we’re doing here. We like people to be active and we like people to take initiative, but it has to be safe, it has to be up to standard. The local counselor says. Overall improvements are in the works for Christie Pitts and that will include the skate park. But those using it will need to wait. The community loves it. It’s proved itself if the community if the city is really that concerned about the structural integrity of this ramp, they can shore it up with steel reinforcements like they do with heritage homes all the time, right? The battle over a do-it-yourself skate park in Toronto has actually happened before. Back in 2016, a park was created in the Lansdowne and Bloor area before the city ultimately came in and dismantled it. Mark McAllister City News.