PORT ANGELES — Skateboarders are invited to a summit with city officials at 9 a.m. Saturday to talk about the future of the skate park in Erickson Park.
On Tuesday afternoon, the park was shuttered for a three-day period after an accumulation of complaints about bad behavior at the park reached a head when someone defaced a sign with a vulgarity.
The meeting, which takes place at the park when it reopens to the public, will be the first attempt to reach a solution to park conduct since it was closed.
“Basically, we’re going to say, ‘We need your help in solving a problem,”‘ said Bill Sterling, Port Angeles deputy director of recreation.
Since the park opened Sept. 4, the Port Angeles Police Department has received about 20 complaints about Erickson Park, where the skate park is located.
The complaints range from bad language, smoking and drinking to fights, vandalism and drug dealing.
“We’ve gotten a lot of calls” about the park, said Police Chief Tom Riepe.
In addition to Sterling, a representative from the Police Department will be at the meeting.
The city wants input from park users, and also to stress that it is the users who will have to enforce the rules on the peers.
“We can’t be down there all the time,” Sterling said.
