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Anika Van Eaton submitting comments re: #206768, to consider amending skate park hours.
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To the Honorable Board:
I am writing in regards to item 11 [That this Board’s Committee on Legislative Matters consider amending Ordinance 12-48, relating to the hours of operation of skate parks.] on the BOA meeting agenda for the October 11th meeting.
I love the newly remodeled Lincoln Park. I live adjacent to Lincoln Park, overlooking the skate park, and I walk through the Park most evenings on my route home from work. I am not bothered by the noise, and really value using the park, and seeing such a wide range of people enjoy the space.
I am concerned about item 11, which targets one specific recreation activity (using the skateboard park) and suggests limiting people from engaging this activity by enacting different hours than the rest of the park facilities.
Given the listening sessions, community design meetings, and other public meetings that were held in 2015-16 to design the park, I hope the BOA carefully consider that there were community members who gave feedback approving of redesigning the park with a skate park, and there are many community members who currently benefit from recreating at the skate park. Somerville taxpayer dollars have funded the creation and will fund the maintenance of this park, so I hope the BOA use caution when limiting the use of this publicly funded space.
I also suggest the BOA make data-informed decisions around the regulation of public space with regards to noise and quality of life. I find it noteworthy that item 11 solely targets the skateboard park, when one may find comparable levels of noise from basketball games, children's birthday parties, and the softball and soccer games with accompanying fans that will eventually be held in the park when the grass opens.
Lastly, as the BOA considers limiting the skate park hours, I urge you to think through how limited hours will be used as a lever to force skate park users to stop exercising and recreating with their chosen sports before other members of the public. Such enforcement can ultimately come through the mechanism of calling the police to make skate park users leave their space before other park facility users. I hope the City of Somerville can alleviate neighbors' concerns about skate park noise without targeting and criminalizing specific forms of exercising and socializing in a public park.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Anika Van Eaton
46 Lincoln Parkway