Yellowknife (Sep 24/04) - Ecole St. Joseph school principal Flo Campbell is tired of picking up litter on her way to work each day.

More significantly, she's frustrated at having to spend thousands of dollars a year on repairs as a result of vandalism to her school.

An increase in littering and vandalism at neighbouring Ecole St. Joseph school is threatening the Yellowknife skateboard park. School principal Flo Campbell will make a presentation to city council Monday asking to have it moved. - Alex Glancy/NNSL photo

On Monday she plans to make a presentation to city council asking members to move the skateboard park, which she says is the cause of her school's woes.

"We're being deeply impacted by vandalism to our school, grounds and buildings," she said.

"The park is littered with broken alcohol bottles and garbage that spreads to the playing fields."

The skateboard park is located in a corner of St. Joe's field, on municipal land.

The school has put additional lighting and garbage cans around the park and the city erected a fence around it.

The damage Campbell cited includes repeatedly broken windows, spray painted graffiti and repeated damage to a set of wooden stairs.

Campbell said her maintenance department tallied up the material costs of the damage to the school, not including labour, and pegged it "conservatively" at $12,000 for the last school year alone.

She has been at the school for 20 years and principal for five. She has no doubt the skateboard park has increased vandalism and littering at her school, and said she is not alone in thinking so.

"I've talked to other schools in the city and they haven't seen anything like what we get with vandalism," she said.

At a meeting last November, held in concert with the city, Municipal Enforcement and RCMP officers told her that vandalism was a greater issue at St. Joe's than at other schools.

"I think the time has come to find a better solution, to take a stronger stance on finding a new place for the kids to skateboard," she said.

"I know we need more recreational facilities for our young people -- that's a commitment of mine," she said.

Neighbours concerned

Ivy Ramsay lives about as close as possible to the skatepark, and while she is glad that the city has one, she's had too many problems at the current location.

"There are lots of parties there in the evening, and broken bottles lying around. You can walk past there and smell pot," she said.

"We can't even open our windows at night during the summer, because of the profanity."

Ramsay has two boys, aged 7 and 10, who attend St. Joe's and she is a member of the school's Parent Advisory Committee.

She said that at the committee's last meeting the skatepark was a big concern.

"I don't really like my 10-year-old going over there."

Ramsay said she has called Municipal Enforcement "numerous" times with noise complaints.

Ramsay does support a skatepark for Yellowknife but questions the location, though she isn't sure what venue would be a good location.

She added that a year-round, indoor park would be good for skaters and might not give people a place to party.

Ramsay's neighbour, Akadie Liskowich, also has a son who skateboards.

"I like the park, my 12-year-old uses it all the time. It's really nice having it close," she said, adding "I usually don't like him to be there in the evening because there are older kids and he's not really at their level."

An RCMP constable who takes her kids to the park said she has seen drug activity at the park on two or three occasions and that the RCMP get calls for "the odd fight."

There was also an incident "where a kid exploded a can of spray paint," she said.

"I was pretty unimpressed with the spray paint episode, I'd never seen anything like it."