Dear editor,
In your April 14 article about Orion’s newest park on Squirrel Road, Supervisor Matt Gibb blamed recent vandalism on the fact that people haven’t been using the park.
I couldn’t agree more, and a suggestion for increasing its usage occurred to me as I passed it en route to the Auburn Hills skate park to pick up my son and his friend.
On our return trip to the township’s north end, driving past Decker, Civic Center, and Friendship Parks, I asked myself, does Orion really need more soccer fields or baseball diamonds? Whatever happened to the skate park that was proposed years ago?
In 2004-5, the Lake Orion Skate Park Committee and the Parks and Recreation Department developed a site plan for a skate park, which was subsequently approved by the township board.
The committee did extensive research: it conducted a survey completed by high school, middle school, and elementary school students, including skateboarders, rollerbladers, and BMX bikers; reviewed modular skate companies and solicited designs from three; and assessed and compared materials, safety standards, costs, liability, etc.
The committee’s final recommendations included the design of the skate park, the company to install it, and location at Civic Center Park due to its central location and easy access via safety paths.
Not every physically active kid participates in organized sports; some like the freedom and skills associated with skating.
If we want our kids to get outside and get fit, we should provide a variety of opportunities in our park system that can accommodate non-scheduled, non-organized activities like hiking, biking, blading, shooting hoops, playing on swings and slides’and skating.
-Amy Marcaccio Keyzer