Sometimes you have to clean up other people’s messes. It’s a fact of life that park professionals understand all too well. But municipal agencies addressing skate park vandalism often find cleaning up that particular kind of mess is a complicated endeavor.
Do a Google News search on “skate park vandalism” any week or month of the year, and pages of recent local reports will appear: vulgar graffiti defacing concrete and equipment, thefts and damage delaying park openings, and broken, unsafe ramps forcing closure. Communities dealing with the problem often describe a range of issues, from simple lack of funds for necessary repairs to concerns that continued vandalism might just mean a wasted investment. The small town of Brainerd, Minnesota, recently faced this dilemma when it was forced to close its skate park. Below, Brainerd parks director Tony Sailer shares his community’s experience, as well as the solutions he is trying through cooperation with other municipal departments, local businesses, and the public.

Lessons Learned in Brainerd 

Jaycees Skate Park in Brainerd closed in March due to graffiti, theft, damage, and vandals’ destruction of safety signs. The park, built in 2004, was the result of energetic youth engagement, the parks and rec agency’s recognition that skateboarders needed a dedicated space, and a grant from KaBOOM!  The youth who originally advocated for the park left the community years ago to go to college or find jobs—and those who use the skate park now were young children when it was built, Sailer says.

“Skateboarders tend to be individualistic,” Sailer observes. With team sports like soccer “it’s simple to enforce rules and penalize the kids who break them,” he says. “It’s harder to do with skate parks, but it’s still important for the town to teach that rules must be followed if you want to play.”
In hindsight, the town now recognizes some mistakes it made in planning Jaycees Park. First, Sailer says, “we located the park in an isolated area because there was already a cement pad there.” It was a decision that seemed at the time like a cost-effective way to leverage the grant money. Secondly, because the modular equipment can be moved around on the cement pad, “the pad was getting crushed and beat up—which makes for serious liability issues.”

Researching and Reaching Out 

Sailer decided to learn how other communities dealt with similar problems. One nearby park director who closed the town skate park to repair vandalized equipment shared that he published an announcement in the local paper warning that if the vandalism recurred after the park’s re-opening, the skate park would be “gone for good.” The threat of consequences probably got the kids attention—but, Sailer explains, the fact that it was a concrete park in a highly visible location probably helped deter further vandalism also. (Since concrete parks have built-in rather than movable structures, equipment is more durable.) Furthermore, the town stepped up police patrols and enforcement and engaged residents in helping with maintenance.

Another nearby town had never had much difficulty with skate park vandalism. The reason, Sailer quickly discovered: The town built the park across the street from its police station.

Location is critical. Brainerd Parks and Recreation is now talking with the local school district about other possible locations for its skate park. “But it’s hard to find a good local spot,” Sailer notes, since nearby residents are often reluctant to see a skate park planned for their neighborhood.

Sailer looked not only to leaders in other communities for insight—he also reached out to owners of the local skate shops, who subsequently helped mobilize Brainerd’s skateboarding community for a cleanup day. Thirty-five volunteers showed up on a Friday afternoon to paint over vandalism, clean up trash, and repair ramps.
“It’s a good first step,” Sailer says. And he hopes whether or not the park is relocated to a more central spot, the youth of the community will continue to care for and take ownership of their skateboarding facility. “We are in the kid business. We want to be able to keep the skate park open for the kids.”

Deterring Vandals in Windsor Locks 

In Windsor Locks, Connecticut, another municipal parks director, David Wrabel, responded to skate park vandalism in close cooperation with his town’s police and public works departments. One of the key issues Wrabel examined was how to improve surveillance without putting an undue burden on law enforcement.  Here is his description of the process of seeking solutions inter-departmentally:

“Because of destruction of property issues that posed safety concerns, our town’s First Selectman, Chief of Police, Public Works Director, and myself decided to close the park down for a week to allow Public Works to make the necessary repairs with an increase of patrols by the police department to ensure people were not jumping the fence to get in the park….

“It was a long process to find a home for the skate park here in town, and it is located within the grounds of the high school on tennis courts that were no longer being used.  In order to use this location, an agreement was made that the skate park would only be open when school is not in session and is closed at dusk.  Because of the agreement with the school system—as well as the high cost of getting electricity to that location—improved lighting around the skate park [often the first vandalism deterrence step parks take] was not an option. So we are looking into video surveillance.

“As it stands now, the police department already has cameras in one park where there had been problems in the past.  The police department began stationing an officer in the park, which was becoming costly and they were able to install cameras.  With their efforts, they were able to curtail the problems that had been taking place at the park.  The Police Commission recently approached the Park Commission for support in installing a camera or multiple cameras in the future at the skate park. 

“The skate park has now been reopened after the graffiti was painted over and necessary repairs were made.  While the park department took calls from the public and explained the situation, the burden of the vandalism and closure was heaviest on Public Works and the Police Department. It was a long process to find a home for the skate park and to get approval for it. We hope surveillance equipment will help us put an end to destructive behavior and vandalism and avoid future closure of the park."

Maureen Hannan is Senior Editor of Parks & Recreation.