On Wednesday, Jan 27 at 7pm in the Portsmouth Town Hall, all interested Island Park residents (and friends) will meet to discuss the proposed skate area in the IP playground. This is the meeting requested by the Town Council in December (see prior coverage here.)

If you want our local kids to have a safe place to skate, please show up and support this project.

The supporters of the skate park have tried to negotiate in good faith. We scaled back the proposed size (now no larger than the existing basketball court), abandoned any multiple levels for a flat asphalt or concrete surface, and proposed mounting small pieces of equipment so that they can be removed, if necessary, after a probationary period. We have been very willing to talk about position within the IP playground to minimize noise.

Lori Rinkel and her team raised over $7,000 from the community for this project. During last year, which was a damned tough time to raise money. Our community voted with their dollars.

Now, please, let's finish the job next Wednesday. There will be members of the Town Council on hand, and we need to show our support.

Can't make the meeting? You can reach the Town Council at these e-mail addresses (hlittle@portsmouthri.com, dcanario@portsmouthri.com, kgleason@portsmouthri.com, khamilton@portsmouthri.com, jplumb@portsmouthri.com, jseveney@portsmouthri.com) and their phone numbers available on the Portsmouth Web site.

If you're on Facebook, you can follow the skate group here, or Island Park residents may wish to join the free, open forum hosted on Ning.com.

Full disclosure: I am a supporter of the skate project and a member of the pro-skatepark group. I was a member of the ad-hoc committee tasked by the Council to seek a mediated solution, and I'm very sad that we were unable to find common ground.