A recent decision by the City of Vancouver has devastated the skateboarding community, which is losing hope in a city that was once globally recognized for the sport and its culture.

The West End Waterfront Parks, Beaches, and Transportation Vision was recently voted down by city council, and a weather-protected space for skateboarders would have been part of that decision.

“It was the first one that we have seen,” said Samantha Shone, vice president of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition.

“The failure of this plan going through is pretty much devastating.”

Chris Corbett

There is a notable lack of weather-protected spaces for skateboarders in Vancouver. The only one that currently exists is a bit of a DIY project by skateboarders located under the Georgia Viaduct.

“That’s the only one that’s truly covered, and that still only services 20% of our community in terms of diversity of skill levels,” said Stone Friesen, a director with the coalition.

“We’ve had indoor ramps in the past,” he said, adding that nothing’s really stuck.

These are some conceptual images of how the skateboard park would’ve looked:

Vancouver Park Board

Vancouver Park Board | @VSBCoalition/Instagram

You might be asking how big the Vancouver skateboarding community actually is and how many skateboarders this might impact. While we couldn’t get a ballpark estimate, the coalition believes it’s much bigger than the Vancouver Park Board and the City realize.

Places that are doing it right

Europe’s largest skate park is in Malmo, Sweden. (Pandora Pictures/Shutterstock)

We asked the coalition if there are any places they can point to that are supporting skateboarding communities better than Vancouver seems to be.

“There are two really big ones that stand out to me,” Friesen said.

One of those spots is Malmo, Sweden, which Friesen called “the gold standard.”

“They have a skateboarding high school that has an indoor park that is actually provided to people outside of the school after hours.”

Friesen said Malmo’s skateboarding community is globally recognized like Vancouver’s community once was.

“We had something like that. We used to be a very globally recognized city for skateboarders, and that’s gone away in the past 20 or so years.”

What about comparisons or examples that are kinder to the skateboarding community closer to home?

Jeremy Nan, secretary for the coalition, pointed to Calgary.

“They were kind of our inspiration in trying to push forward a skate strategy because, in Calgary, they’re building a lot of parks.”

He added that multiple parks have been built there in the last few years. Even Googling “skateboarding Calgary” brings you to a page for “The Compound,” Calgary’s premier indoor skate park that offers camps and programs, the type a facility that only exists in the dreams of Vancouver skateboarders.

180-degree turn on the community

Chris Corbett

Vancouver used to be a premier destination for skateboarding and, as Nan pointed out, was once globally recognized. You may even remember Slam City Jam, a competition Vancouver hosted from 1994 until the mid-2000s.

The 2006 edition of Slam City Jam occurred in Calgary because the Pacific Coliseum was being renovated for the 2010 Olympics. After that, it stopped entirely.

Urban planner Uytae Lee explains that despite skateboarding’s increasing popularity, tensions between skateboarders and the City of Vancouver were also growing.

Residents and local governments began to see skateboarding as a problem, including fears that skateboarders would damage property and complaints from businesses. NIMBY sentiments about skateboarding and skate parks were also on the rise.

We spoke to the coalition about some of this perceived tension.

“There was a bit of a clash in the ’90s,” Friesen said.

“Modern streetscape building was being developed, and the city was also rapidly growing.”

Friesen said it felt like the City didn’t know what to do, and instead of bringing groups like the coalition to the table for work and conversations on accessibility, they ended up banning skateboarding in public spaces.

A Vancouver bylaw about skating in public reads, “No person shall coast or slide on a sled, skis, skates, skateboard or other apparatus on any street, lane, or other public place; provided, however that Council may declare any street, lane or other public place closed to all other traffic for the purpose of permitting coasting or sliding on a sled, skis, skates, skateboard or other apparatus thereof.”

Essentially, Vancouver went from being a globally recognized skateboarding-friendly city to a place that stigmatized the activity.

Not as easy as ABC

ABC Vancouver

According to the coalition, support from the skateboarding community at a civic level seems to be diminishing, with members feeling like they have even less support from the ABC Party than previous leadership.

“We essentially don’t really have a connection with the city council. We were kind of left in the dark,” Nan said.

To complicate matters, there’s the looming park board dissolution. The coalition has had a strong connection with the Vancouver Park Board in the past, but they don’t know if their work will be carried forward if and when the park board is dissolved.

Daily Hive contacted the City of Vancouver with some of the coalition’s concerns, and the park board responded with a statement.

“We thank all those who helped shape the Imagine West End Waterfront vision. During engagement for the project, we heard from Vancouver’s skateboarding community and the general public that a safe and accessible covered skatepark remains a priority for this area,” a park board spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the Vancouver Park Board is still committed to the needs of “Vancouver’s passionate and diverse skateboarding community.”

“In 2022, we published CitySkate, a city-wide Skateboard Amenities Strategy, which envisions safe and accessible skate-friendly spaces for all. As staff work through the next steps for the Imagine West End Waterfront vision, aligning with the goals of CitySkate remains a key consideration.”

For the coalition, the work continues.

Despite the struggles and growing pains, skateboarding in Vancouver isn’t dead. This weekend, a big event is happening in Vancouver: the Slurpee Canada Skateboard Open, which will take place at Hastings Park.

Find details here if you want to show your support.