Tybee Island City Council Stealing Skate Park from its Children

Back in November, I did a long rant on the nastiness with our city council elections. I was so turned off by all the spam emails I got that I didn't even go vote. The hottest topic regarded the sitting council's approval of a skate park on Tybee Island. It had been a long year of lobbying by both proponents and opponents, but you really had to admire the youth who even took to fund-raising to get their own skate park. But what amazed me even more were all the youth who piled in to City Hall back in July to have their voices heard. The meeting took nearly 4 hours, and the council was split on the vote, so Mayor Buelterman broke the tie and voted in favor of the skate park. Kudos to him.

I grew up on Tybee. Back then, my friends had john boats to go out in the rivers, over to Little Tybee, back into Jack's Cut and our swing. We had the water slides, putt putt, and amusement park. We even had an arcade, though I was not allowed to go due to certain activities there. All of that is gone now, but no worries, because there are plenty of condos in its place. The activities that remain for kids are tourist-geared. How many times can you climb the lighthouse before it isn't fun anymore, and how many times can you visit the same critters at the Science Museum? It is no secret that Tybee's City Councils have not understood the culture of our youth. Why else would we have a several hundred thousand dollar gym that they aren't using?

The skate park is the last chance for our youth on Tybee to have something for them. But our new city council is going to vote on the 28th to re-allocate the funds already set aside in the budget for the skate park to other items. That's really classy, Council. Tell the kids you care about them expressing themselves safely without disrupting all the neighbors on the island then take it away. Why are you all so against this? Look at what skateboarding does for these youth: it gives them exercise, promotes their creativity, and gives them confidence to push limits and try new things. But you're right, why would we want to encourage any type of activity that may actually build character and possibly turn these kids into stronger future leaders?