The City of New Westminster is taking steps to make sure its new skate park is cleaned up in time for this weekend’s grand opening after vandals painted graffiti on the facility.

Instead of the colourful tagging that often adorns skateboard facilities, someone used paint to critique the new skate park in Queen’s Park, by painting comments like "New West didn’t want all transition," "All transition and no street is a disgrace to skateboarders" and "What about the Kids?" The tagging occurred sometime over the weekend.

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“It’s actually the second time it’s been tagged,” said Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks and recreation. “The first time it seemed to be a memorial to somebody. This time around it seems to be somebody who is taking exception to the way the skate park was designed and some of the features that were not included.”

The city has reported the vandalism to the New Westminster Police Department.

“The interesting thing that’s happened is somewhere out there in the social media world, disappointment has been expressed about the fact that it was actually tagged, and I believe some speculation may have been made about who might have been behind it,” Gibson said. “We have referred all of that over to the New Westminster Police. They will address the situation in whatever way they need to. Obviously, vandalizing civic property isn’t something that we want to support.”

While skate parks are often covered in graffiti, Gibson said the city’s goal is to keep the new facility free of paint.

“Most skateboarders will tell you that they don’t want tagging on the skate parks themselves, because when you put paint on the bowls it affects the performance,” he told the Record. “So that is the standard that we have held down in Queensborough and are carrying it forward up in this area as well. It’s largely driven by the boarders themselves, and in part by us wanting to have clean and presentable spaces.”

The city will officially open the skate park in Queen’s Park on Saturday, May 11 at 11 a.m. Along with mayor and council, DJ Vinyl Ritchie will attend the event that also includes activities and displays, giveaways and prizes, a barbecue and a concession.

The city had to find a new location for the skate park because the facility at Mercer Stadium had to be demolished to make way for a new high school. After consulting with the community about a location and design, the city built the new facility in Queen’s Park.

“We had a whole group of skateboarders from the community who were involved extensively through the design process,” Gibson said. “It was very specific and deliberate to have the design that we did with the features that were included. So what we are gathering is that whoever the perpetrators were likely weren’t involved in that process and didn’t know how it came to be its current design.”