Albany city commissioner responds to skatepark petition

ALBANY, Ga. – In a follow up to a story we brought you last week, we’re speaking with the City of Albany after a group made a plea during the latest city commission meeting.

After speaking with the young man leading the charge to rebuild the Albany skatepark, we hear from one city leader about the cause.

We met with 19-year-old Alex Ranew to talk about his efforts to save what was the Albany skatepark on East Oglethorpe Boulevard…

Now we meet with Ward 1 Commissioner Jon Howard about the city’s response to the plea.

“I guess the next step is the Recreation Department; we’re looking at some sites and then once we can find a site and then they will go forward to building a new skatepark,” said Commissioner Jon Howard, Ward 1 Commissioner, City of Albany.

Ranew told us that the East Oglethorpe skatepark was one of the only ones in Southwest Georgia with the nearest one being in Macon…

And… the city wants to make sure they aren’t leaving skaters out to hang.

“Because the young man said that this is the only one that was south of Macon, Georgia, is about 110 miles. So, we want to make them happy. But, at the same time, we’re gonna make sure that the safety is there to see this going on because there is a liability risk,” said Commissioner Howard.

With the turnout, Ranew and his fellow skaters had at the most recent city commission meeting, Howard is optimistic they’ll rebuild the skatepark.

“There was some parts that was sort of not working well, and I commend the young folks that came to the commission meeting to say we need it. And, can I can assure you that we are looking at other sites somewhere downtown, and to build another bigger, better skatepark. And, this would be much larger than what it is,” said Commissioner Howard.

For now though, the city is working to make sure the skateboarders of the Good Life City have a place up to standards.

The petition regarding rebuilding the Albany skatepark currently has over one thousand signatures.

And… if you’re interested in learning more about Alex’s cause, you can find the link to the petition here https://www.change.org/p/rebuild-albany-s-skatepark-wrongfully-demolished

Brian Roche reporting.

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