Leave your constructive comments about the failure of the new Tampines skatepark at the links below. These are MP's on facebook that can help your voices be heard. TAKE ACTION by leaving a constructive comment and fighting for better skate parks that involve the skateboarding community in the design process.

https://www.facebook.com/teoserluck/posts/526883410662114

https://www.facebook.com/TharmanShanmugaratnam/posts/506853172677512

https://www.facebook.com/SGConversation/posts/223364807790451

https://www.facebook.com/irenengph

https://www.facebook.com/ChanChunSing.SG

Letter sent to MP's via Facebook:

Dear ...,

I am writing to you regarding some imminent issues with the skateparks being built all across Singapore. Though I applaud the government for its efforts to create a safer place for the skateboarders to practice their sport, there are key issues with the locality, design and even the obstacles being used.

An article (For skateboarders, by skateboarders, written by Eisen Teo, in IN: secondary school newspaper- published by The Straits Times on 16/05/2011) reported that “Although there are now more skateparks, participants are unhappy with many of the skateparks built for them… many are poorly designed.. too small to accommodate more than a dozen skateboarders at any one time…. obstacles may not be well positioned or constructed… and the floor is very rough. Skateparks keep skateboarders off the streets …and the standards of skate parks must be higher, or else skateboarders will not skate at these places and it will be a waste of land, said Muhammad Umar Al-Siddiq, 24, a full-time skateboarding coach. “ The Somerset skatepark and Xtreme SkatePark are notable exceptions – they are packed almost every day of the week, especially on Friday evenings and weekends. For the skatepark in Somerset, the National Youth Council consulted skateboarding, in-line skating and BMX (motocross bicycle) professionals. For Xtreme, NParks and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports engaged Convic Design, a professional skatepark design firm from Australia. The result? Excited, satisfied skateboarders. With these two skateparks fast becoming overcrowded, skateboarders suggest upgrading the other unsatisfactory parks…. Town councils, community clubs or the National Parks Board (NParks) usually oversee the building of skateparks, and a check with them revealed that some, such as those in Queenstown, Bedok and Bishan, were indeed constructed without input from skateboarders.”

Representatives from the skateboarding community have been trying to open communication channels with the various Town Councils, CCs and even “Playpoint”, the appointed Project Manager with constructive feedback because building skate parks in the middle of heavily clustered HDBs, and laying odd-placed obstacles on unsuitable terrains may result in accidents and noise pollution, and create unnecessary friction between the residents and skateboarders. Despite repeated complains by skateboarders, concerned parents, residents and the media regarding safety issues and design inadequacies; no one has yet asked the skateboarders to be involved in the planning, design and developing of the skateparks which are meant for skateboarders. New skateparks bearing similar designs and problems continue being built, with the most recent being in Tampines and Punggol.

With the amount of resources that the government is investing, it might make more sense to involve and include our local skateboarders, before proceeding to design or build a community skate park. Skateboarding has been around since the early 1980s and there are approximately 2000 or more active skateboarders in Singapore today, with ages ranging from 5 years old to 40 over years old. Through the years, many local skaters have been involved in, and hired to spearhead, conceptualize, manage, develop skate courses, and market international skateboarding events in Singapore and across Asia. Singapore has played host to numerous international skateboarding events, and numerous local skaters have represented Singapore to compete at international skate competition in neighboring countries.

By hiring and leveraging on the experience of our Singapore skaters, maybe the community skate parks will finally fulfill its intended purpose of being a community space that is ideal for our residents, safe for our local skaters, and a place where skateboarders, their families and other residents can gather and bond often. If you would like to get in touch with the local skateboarding representatives, do pm me and I will be happy to give you their respective contact numbers. Thanks for reading. :)

By Valerie