Build it

Hailey parents who want to know where the kids are will want to get behind the new effort to build a skateboard park. So will business people concerned about kids hanging out in front of businesses because they have nothing to do.

The park will be a magnet for kids. It will keep them out of traffic and off the sidewalks. Once the skateboard park was built in Ketchum, kids deserted the handicapped ramps and sidewalks in front of businesses in favor of the park.

It’s no wonder.

There’s no audience at the ramps, just grumpy business owners who shoo them away. The skate park, on the other hand, is full of admirers and skate connoisseurs of all ages looking to find and show off new moves on its high curving walls . It’s a hive of activity from morning to night.

The Ketchum skate park has attracted other sports as well, most notably the pick-up street hockey game that lasted most of the summer. It attracted kids who wanted to keep up their hockey skills or try a new team sport.

The Hailey City Council has offered a location at Bullion and River Street and to pick up the costs of liability insurance for the park. The offer is generous for the perennially cash-strapped city, but it’s a wise one. The city is working with neighbors to craft a good fit at the proposed site, now a city parking lot.

A citizens’ group, the Hailey Skate Park Committee/T.C. Andrews Memorial foundation is raising money to design and build it. The skate park is worth a lot of effort and deserves the support of private contributors.

It will go a long way toward stamping out the whine that sends adults into orbit: "Mom, Dad, there’s nothing to do."