The Vancouver Skatepark Coalition
The Vancouver Skateboard Coalition was started in 1998 by local skaters who had no indoor skating venues and only had one outdoor location – China Creek. Everywhere else was illegal, and the police were taking away skateboards and giving out tickets.
Skateboarding was growing rapidly and almost every other kid had a board. I have never understood how it could be a crime to roll down the street. So we started working with the city to fix the situation.
I ended up meeting with city staff worker Mark Vulliamy from the Vancouver Park Board who, by the way, has been one our biggest supporters: “We Love Mark!” He told me that there had been some interest in skateboarding at Douglas Park Community Centre and to contact Tanya Byron, a youth worker. Tanya and I set up a meeting and we started planning our approach. She and I used our connections to gather skaters and City people together to come up with ideas.
After a few meetings, some key people started coming out. Kyle Dion was one of these people. Kyle had run a few indoor skateparks, and had also done some youth work and programming related to skateboarding. Kyle was pivotal in getting things started. Soon after that, the VSA came on board to lend a hand. VSA is a group that had been trying to get a skatepark built under the Burrard Bridge. We all put a lot of time and effort into getting the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition up and rolling.
Through hard work from the community and countless dedicated board members, we have been able to get four new skateparks in Vancouver, implement programs, demos, and lessons at some of the parks and, thanks to former mayor Larry Campbell and Council support, we now have a Skateboard Week.
One of the coolest things we have done is getting the youth involved with local government and politics. It has been really interesting and rewarding! We now work with the city on all skateboarding related issues. It’s a blast! Our members range in age from 3 years old to 60 plus.
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