Many of us attended City Council's monthly meeting tonight to further express our perspectives and needs as a community. We expect this half million dollars of public funds, be used to create the most public good. That happens by working with the community to determine the best use of the funds. Working with American Ramp Company in any capacity is simply not in the community's best interest and that has only become more and more clear as we scratch the surface of a lot of information that portrays American Ramp Company and their products in a very poor light to say the least. This document covers a lot of concerning ground with regard to American Ramp Company. Give it a read, it is very concerning: https://www.scribd.com/document/48257277/What-you-need-to-know-about-American-Ramp-Company-aka-ARC
After waiting 4 hours to participate in public comment, we were able to again make our case; this time to City Council directly. The members of City Council had previously been a part of all communications with Brian Mancini from Parks and Rec, meaning they were sent the concepts we received from Artisan Skateparks (another company listed on the pre approved procurement site know as Sourcewell). These concepts prove the viability of a concrete option.
These easily secured concepts/quotes have really begged the question of why ARC was the only company contacted for a quote. It doesn't seem like a good practice to only seek one quote, especially when 3 other companies are listed amongst ARC on the site where Parks and Rec say they went to find a contractor. It's important to note that ARC was the company upkeeping the old skate park. The state of the old skatepark, it is agreed, was seriously degraded and this can easily be attributed to shoddy repairs made by ARC.
City Council seemed very understanding of our current dilemma and receptive to our insight. Based off of each Council members' statements after we spoke, it seems they want to bridge the gap between us and Parks and Rec and help this community get the skatepark it deserves. We hope this remains true until such a skatepark is a reality! We have a long road ahead but the current path shows a great deal of promise. This whole ordeal still has the ability to be a big home run for the City and the Community and we are happy to facilitate in any way we can.
In addition to Volcom Skate's Instagram page sharing the petition today, there was a short piece done on the local news channel and the issue was front page news in the local paper.
https://www.whsv.com/2023/04/25/skateboard-community-push-petition-stop-steel-ramps-westover-park/
Reporters from The Citizen were at City Council tonight, so we expect there to be more reporting done on this issue by them. We look forward to seeing it. The Breeze has done some reporting as well last week and we are waiting to see what the results of that will be.
Additionally, Blue Summit Pictures has begun filming for a short documentary on the rebuilding of Westover Skatepark and we hope this will be able help grasp the scope of this issue, our work on it as well as the nuance we have struggled to get across to local government.
Lastly, THANK YOU to everyone that has signed and supported this petition and cause. It has been inspiring to witness the support. Much of our support has come from non skaters in the community that despite not skating themselves, can see the merit in our actions and the need that we are representing and they want to help which is truly amazing and please know that we really appreciate you!