SALEM, VA – Nearly 1500 people are petitioning the City of Salem asking for answers after Moyer Skate Park was demolished with no definite plans for a new location.
Skateboarders in Salem said they were promised plans for a new skate park, but now have nothing.
Laura Saunders has taken her son Kyle to Moyer Skate Park since he was six.
“I remember when they built this skate park and now I get to take my son there,” Saunders said. “Well, I did, I don’t anymore.”
She created a petition after finding out last week that the city is replacing the skate park with pickleball courts.
Saunders said that it is an injustice to the children of Salem to relocate the park, or remove it altogether.
“He fell in love with scooters and scootering,” she said. “He would see all the older kids doing these tricks and thought it was amazing and he wanted to do that.”
Skateboarder Jack Ray grew up going to the park, and said he’s disappointed young people won’t have the same opportunities as he did.
“It has a special place in my heart,” Ray said. “And even if they had to build it somewhere else, I mean this is a sacred spot to me, but there needs to be someplace for the skater.”
Ray said skating gives kids who don’t do traditional sports a chance to excel.
“For me as a skinnier kid who was never really able to join into the team sports, something like this is so perfect,” Ray said.
Alek Patterson is an advocate to bring more skate parks to the Roanoke Valley.
“It’s hurtful when we see it get taken away so quickly and abruptly,” Patterson said.
He said skateboarding allows a place for acceptance.
“Anyone can be a skateboarder,” Patterson said. “It’s not defined by your gender or identity or whatever. You can skate, and everyone is going to be accepting of that.”
10 News reached out to the City of Salem, and their spokesperson said “Salem recognizes the importance of this type of recreation for skateboarders and is committed to searching for a new location in the city or possibly the region.”
