A NEW skate park being built in Sunshine West has local residents fearing for their lives, with many scared to leave their house at night because of the violence and vandalism the site has started to attract.
Earlier this year work began on a youth skate park at Talintyre Reserve – one of two new skate parks planned around Brimbank – and since construction began residents have regularly reported seeing gangs of youths fighting, drinking and abusing the construction area.
Residents are concerned that the area around the skate park site has become a beacon for anti-social activity.
“It’s getting to a stage where all the residents are scared for their lives, they’re not stepping out of their houses,” said Soroush Ighaniyan, who lives in Maloney St, which runs onto the reserve.
Another resident, who would only be identified as Rachel, said the fighting, shouting and smashing of bottles left her concerned for the safety of her two young children. She acknowledged, however, that the youth of the area needed somewhere to go.
Brimbank City Council originally looked at building skate parks at six sites in the municipality but choose only to proceed with two of them, Talintyre Reserve and Robert Bruce Reserve, after residents complained about the problems the parks might draw to their areas.
But the decision to drop four sites has led to charges that the council is merely shifting the problem of unwanted skate parks around the municipality.
“They (council) are trying to take the problem from one area and bring it to the next (area) and unfortunately Sunshine West is being picked on at the moment,” Mr Ighaniyan said.
During a discussion at last week’s council meeting, Councillor Kathryn Eriksson said residents had rejected a proposed skate park at Calder Rise Reserve, saying that the community was worried “skate parks attract people that are going to leave it in an unsavoury way”.
The Talintyre skate park, which will cost council $142,000, is due to be finished at the end of next month and sits next to Glengala Primary School, and the West Sunshine Community Centre.
It is designed for intermediate skaters, aged from about 8 to 14.
There are also plans to establish a neighbourhood house at the community centre.
“By creating a hub of positive activity around the skate and community facilities, anti-social behaviour will be deterred,” a council spokeswoman told Star last week.
The spokeswoman said the council would be responsible for keeping the skate park clean and that despite some calls for work to be abandoned, the park would be completed.
