Call to arms

The petition that was set up to prevent the ridiculous ban on street skating in Coventry (and in turn act as a “friendly” reminder that Coventry skateboarders have spent almost 8 years locked in an uphill battle with the council about getting a top quality skatepark) has been tampered with.

It was at almost 400 sigs. It’s now at 140.

Currently we’re unsure why this is – but the possible reason might be that the council are removing signatures from people who don’t live in Coventry (or those suspected of not living in Coventry).

This is a ridiculous reason to ignore signatures. The lack of a modern, top quality skatepark in Coventry affects places further than Coventry. All of Warwickshire suffered from the lack of a good skatepark, and currently all of Coventry benefits from Leamington having a new skatepark. Not to mention this blocks out Coventrians who have moved out of Coventry, but are still involved in the city and it’s skate scene (yes, i’m talking about myself, but also people who have moved away for uni, etc).

This issue, which has been an ongoing conversation for 8 years (although i’d liken it to screaming at a brick wall instead of a conversation), should not be blocked by blind bureaucracy and red tape.

If you have the time, if you care about skateboarding, and you care about Coventry, send an email to the councillors involved with this ban, CC davey from the Coventry Skatepark Project, CC me if you want, and tell the council that if they want us out of the city centre, they need to actually start helping skateboarders and not antagonise them. Protest outside the council house. Tell every police officer and PCSO about the work we have done for the last 8 years. Make the council look like the idiots they are.

Do all this, and Cov might finally get a skatepark worth going to.