BRIDGETON -- Leaders of the Greater Bridgeton Skate Park Association (GBSPA) attended Monday's city council meeting to rebuke recent allegations that skateboarders are responsible for graffiti at the "kiddie" pool in Veterans Memorial Park.
GBSPA President Karen Peterson and others associated with the newly formed non-profit organization also attended, because they wanted to find out "exactly where we stand" in the effort to have a skatepark built in the city.
"To say the graffiti has left a bad taste in my mouth would be an understatement," Mayor Michael Pirolli said.
"Can you honestly say that skateboarders are responsible for that?" Peterson asked. "We're taking the rap for that. ... There are some good kids who skate. Not every skateboarder is a bad skateboarder. It's a shame for the ones who are good to have to take the blame for the bad ones."
Peterson and others were responding to council regular and World War II veteran Warren Robinson's assertion of nearly two weeks ago that graffiti he discovered there in the "kiddie" pool off Mayor Aitken Drive was done by skateboarders.
Peterson rhetorically asked how anyone could blame skateboarders for the graffiti, essentially without any proof.
"I could turn around and say Mr. Robinson did it. It's highly unlikely that he did it, but I could say that," she said.
As one mother pointed out, a number of the graffiti slogans were done in the name of a local BMX biker group.
Robinson took the "accusation" in stride.
"In all of my years, I've been accused of many pranks, but graffiti was never one of them," he said, eliciting laughter from most in attendance.
Robinson told council and, really, Peterson and the handful of skateboarders who attended Monday's meeting that he is supportive of the skatepark idea, so long as it's self-supporting and the public- and private-property damage that skateboarding can cause is eradicated as a result of its construction.
Council President George McLaughlin told Peterson that he feels the proposed skatepark is "still a good idea."
But, like Pirolli, McLaughlin noted that the behavior of the "bad" ones -- skateboarders or non-skateboarders -- certainly is not helping to further the effort.
McLaughlin told Peterson that council was uncertain of the progress in obtaining potential outside funding to help build a skatepark -- as Peterson pointed out, potential funding they were told months ago that they would be getting word on within weeks -- having not seen a report from city Recreation Director Bob Rose.
Pirolli noted that his approving of the skateboarders making use of the "kiddie" pool after being forced out of the Fountain Plaza as the result of an estimated $35,000 damage drew the ire of veterans like Robinson. That situation has not helped hasten the effort, the mayor said.
Of the city's $35,000 estimate of the damage at the Fountain Plaza, GBSPA Vice President Candy Menz has visited the site and told council and Pirolli, "$3,500, maybe. But $35,000, that sounds outrageous."
Lisa Spinelli, another member of the GBSPA, urged council and Pirolli to consider approving the building of the proposed skatepark near the downtown, as did others at the meeting.
"We think the closer to the downtown, the better economically" for downtown businesses and the city, she said.
Spinelli noted that when she would drop her son off at a proposed skatepark, she would most likely take care of some shopping downtown.
Nick Salvatore, who, like Robinson, is a regular at council meetings, does not believe the city should be behind the effort to have a skatepark built here for one reason.
"You know the majority of them don't live in the city, but you're going on the backs of the taxpayers," he said, noting maintenance and insurance costs could come at a steep price to the city if the skatepark is built.
Councilman Miguel Lopez again suggested that the GBSPA go to surrounding municipalities to seek financial support.
Council Doug Van Sant, who initiated the effort to have skateboarding banned at the Fountain Plaza, said he would not allow the graffiti at the "kiddie" pool to negatively impact his view of the skateboarding community as a whole.
"I, for one, am not broad brushing the skateboarders,"he said.