sk8tairawhiti.org.nz for Tairawhiti Skateparks

Meeting at Skate Park: 16 August 2008
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(minutes kindly prepared by Andy and Jason)

Present:
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Errol & Lee Peta
Remo
Grant MacDonald
Terry
Mark Lewis
Jason Akuhata-Brown
Karn
Andy Crowe

Meeting:
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Jason opened with a karakia and a brief history about the skate park and the people who started it. Bringing to mind that the history of the skate park should help influence the future of the skate park.

Andy shared a bit about his role at the skate park and how this influenced and drove his perspective on what should happen at the skate park. Namely that to him the approach was more important than the actual goal, finding out what skaters think would be best for the skate park not just a select few.

Karn also expressed concerns about getting the perspective on what parents/ families would like to see happen at skate park.

Remo then approached the white-board and helped paint a bigger picture in terms of the focus and involvement of the group in areas outside of the town skate park, i.e. Elgin and Kaiti, etc. There was also the mention of smaller stations or “satellite spots”. There was also discussion on the relationship between skaters and bikers and bridging that gap somehow. Further points raised were; naming the “group” with the most inclusive name possible, “Skate Park User Group”, “Air Club”, etc; Goals, short, medium and long term.

Grant then elaborated on his role within the council and the ups ad downs of that ☺. He also added to the “bigger picture” mentioning some of his ideas on developing “informal sports” in the Gisborne Community.

Mark, who elaborated some more on the accessibility and convenience of “informal activities”, met this point with similar passion. And concluded that a focus on the “bigger picture” was what he thought would work best. Mark also suggested setting up a “Suggestion Box” at the Skate Park.

Errol and Lee, put forward the idea of developing a “Skate Club” at the Skate park whose main concern would be to develop the structures at the skate park, planning and organizing skate competitions and having regular meetings to see what their members thought in terms of skate park development.

Several people then raised the question of whether being involved in the skate cub would include being part of the bigger picture? Or whether the purpose of these meetings fit into what the “Skate Club” would be about?

The meeting finished on a mutual agreement that each of us having varying passions and perspectives and that in order to make the next meeting more productive, it would be best for us to focus on own areas of interest and then to report back to the group next time.

Roles:
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Jason – Te Ora Hou
Andy – Skater’s Voice, Incedo (YFC)
Grant – GDC, Informal Recreation
Errol & Lee – Skate Club
Mark – Informal Recreation (mountain biking)
Remo – Elgin & Kaiti (“bigger picture”)
Karn - Kaiti & Families

The next meeting will be held on 20 September 2008.

A few thoughts from Andy:

I think it would be really help to keep some of our discussions and an on going process even outside of the meetings this, I think, will help us to shorten the meetings and keep it to the point. Whether by email or when we bump into each other, I think this will be vital also in growing a unified focus on what we want to achieve and at the same time helping us to understand each other’s perspectives.

I also think that for the next meeting we set an agenda and roughly base it on 10-15 per person to allow them to report back and throw some stuff into the mix. Your feedback would be appreciated on these ideas ☺.

Andy Crowe
Jason Akuhata-Brown