skate park: Tom Bonnett
Just one week after opening the brand new skate park in Stoke Newington’s Clissold park is covered in graffiti. The skate ramps are just part of the £9m National Lottery-funded re-vamp of the park. John Hudson, the Secretary of Clissold Park Users’ Group said: “I’m saddened that this has happened.
“The park is for everyone and if people deface or damage it, it’s to everyone’s loss.
“I will work and hope everyone else will, to discourage and prevent it in future – you want to make sure people intervene if kids are doing stupid things.”
Research shows that people tend to feel more vulnerable and fear crime levels in places vandalised by graffiti.
The skating surface at the wheels park will have to be re-painted once the graffiti is removed.
Hackney Council’s environmental enforcement team have investigated the graffiti and aim to remove non-offensive graffiti within two weeks, while offensive graffiti is cleaned within a day.
Hackney Council cabinet member, Jonathan McShane, said that park rangers will patrol the skate park more often to deter vandals.
“The skate park is proving really popular with hundreds of skaters using it in the first week, so it’s a real shame that some people have decided to vandalise this fantastic park,” he added.
However not all Stoke Newington residents feel concerned: “I rather expect a skate park to have graffitti on it. It goes with the territory” remarked one middle-aged passerby. “It would be a waste of time to take it off – they will just paint it again. Its a way of making it feel it belongs to them – not the council.”
Peter Makarski, 48, of the Three Amigos Skateboard shop in Camden and a local Stokie resident. He begged to differ: “There is a place for graffiti but not in skate parks. It holds moisture of the surface and makes the surface slippy.” He added that: “Skaters come to skate, not to spray. None of this is done by skaters.”
Sunning himself on the sidelines, local rapper Brotherman, 26, said: “Graffiti is a statement of free speech. This park is built for the youth. It reflects their culture. Its fine as long is it isn’t offensive. If they clean it off people will just come and do it again. Its a waste of money.”
A group of ten years olds (who should have been at school) were mainly in favour saying: “it makes the atmosphere better,” though one said that he was happy with the colourful writing but didn’t like the black stuff.
Local mums with their buggies did not seem to be deterred by the grafitti and were happily enjoying the spectacle.
Join the debate and let Hackney council know whether they should take it off it leave it there?
I don’t see any reason to remove non-offensive graffiti in a skate park. The council should be glad somebody has decorated the place, instead of leaving it as an ugly expanse of grey concrete.
C’mon!!!! Graffitti is part of the culture of skating. What will they ban next? No sneakers? IT’S GONNA LOOK GREAT! Check out the South Bank. It’s a tourist attraction.
They should be encouraging painters to paint there.
“if people deface or damage it, it’s to everyone’s loss.”
It’s not everyone’s loss. As the person quoted at the end of the article says, and Denny reinforces above, graffiti is part of the furniture for such places, adding colour and character to an otherwise bland space.
Previous posters seem to be ignoring the fact that the graffiti is damaging the surface which means the park won’t be as good for skaters?
So, I think graffiti is absolutely fine once it’s not offensive, but not on the actual surface where people are supposed to skate. Agree that it looks a lot better than grey concrete though – maybe its just a matter of graffiti-ing elsewhere at the skate park.
it makes no difference to the surface for skating or bike riding-this should not have even made it as a post, its not news. find some real subjects to post.
What has made a difference to the surface is the council deciding to paint over the whole thing, without consulting skaters, which has made it incredibly slippery to skate as the bottom of the bowl is also seeping in water. The combination of the two is deadly to skaters and bmxers.
The council have spent a fortune on a great facility that has been built badly – water should not be seeping in. Serious questions need to be asked.
this is so silly graff and skating go hand in hand