Sandy to reopen skate park on Monday

SANDY — Sandy's skate park will reopen next Monday, a week after Mayor Tom Dolan shut it down.

The mayor made a personal visit to the park Monday, after complaints that skaters at the park were acting unruly. Dolan watched kids at the park smoke, threaten and push each other, and use bad language — violations of the park's posted rules.

Thursday, the mayor and Byron Jorgenson, the city's chief administrative officer, signed off on an action plan to reopen the park by Monday, June 25, at 9 a.m. Until further notice:

• The park will have park and recreation staff regularly monitor the skaters during normal hours and police supervise from 6 until 9 p.m.

• The park will close at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m.

• More police-monitored cameras will be placed.

• An extra family night will be added, where only kids and their parents can use the skate park.

"It seems like from talking to the kids and other people that there's this little group of bullies, 8-10, maybe 12 at the most, that go to our skate park and are just bullies," said Nancy Shay, director of the city's parks and recreation department. "If they want to come to the skate park, they need to observe our rules. They can't use profanity, they cant smoke inside the skate park and they can't be bullies."

By closing the park before it gets dark and adding extra monitoring techniques, the city is hoping to clean up the rowdy park patrons. Shay said skaters have complained about the park's closure, especially on Wednesday, which is National Skateboarding Day.

However, the city has also received supportive calls from parents and kids. "The good kids don't want to be harassed," Shay said. "They want to use the skate park."

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