Timmins council is shutting down a pitch to put $25,000 aside every year until a skate park can be built in the city. This came on request from Councillor Andre Grzela, who says it would help to keep the youth in the city. He says it’s hard to keep young people in the north, since southern Ontario has a lot more to offer because of sheer numbers. So, he says this would have been an option.
Grzela says the city could have been saving money for the project, and a separate group was willing to do fundraising themselves. He also notes it could have worked similar to a skate park in Moonbeam, which is a portable unit that is housed inside an arena during the summer. Grzela says the arenas are just sitting there in the summer anyway, and this could have taken advantage of the city’s infrastructure.
However, the majority of council didn’t agree this was a priority, and so it will not make it into the 2017 budget.