Just some odds and sods this week: We had our first preliminary skate park design meeting the other evening aimed at youth and up. While just a starting point at this time, I was somewhat surprised to hear some of the comments from a group of younger teens when Spectrum Skateparks’ Jim Barnum asked what they would like to see as amenities around a park. Some of the initial desires included trash cans, recycle bins, fountain, shade, picnic tables, water misters, lawn, tool bench for repairs and security cameras.
Interestingly enough, the other meeting facilitator, landscape architect Mark van der Zalm, said he had run across a camera at a skate park in a teeny west Texas town that anyone could log in to from the Internet, much like the webcams on the Town of Creston website. That way, if mom was wondering if little Johnny was staying late at school for extra tutoring, she could access the webcam and discover he was actually practicing his slappies and nose-grinds at the park. It could also provide some passive community policing, as you never really know when someone is monitoring the site. Of course, you would have to balance some privacy concerns, but it’s an interesting concept. Anyway, it was a great start to the process; thanks to everyone that came out — stay tuned for updates and future meetings.
Speaking of staying tuned in, did you know that Regional District of Central Kootenay has a callout service in the event of an emergency? I thought that was pretty cool. The system will send out an alert by text message or by voice message to whatever phone number you provide when you sign up — whoa, I just flashed back to last year when the wildfires were burning around here and the blitzkrieg of information on Facebook ranging from factual to ridiculous, from which often you were unable to filter out the genuine article. Talk about a way to generate potentially unnecessary high anxiety! (Future topic “Complimentary and Uncomplimentary Stress — Which Do You Prefer?”) This new notification service is intended to inform residents and visitors alike about incidents that could impact them in their area.
I found the easiest way to get more info or sign up is just go to www.rdck.ca and type “alerts” into the search bar in the upper right hand side. Select one of the first couple of results, which should take you to the signup page; as well, if you hit “help” in there, it has a pile more info about the service. Back on the RDCK emergency management page, there is a wealth of info on preparedness and more info on the systems and services the RDCK has in place to protect its residents.
Finally, as we are constantly focused on physical literacy and keeping you active at all ages, at a recent BC Recreation and Parks Association session we attended, the keynote pointed out (tongue-in-cheekily) that one of most watched television events, the 2014 World Cup Soccer final, had over one billion viewers. It was the epitome of inactivity, the speaker said; you had over a billion people sitting and watching 22 men exercise. Watch for more info in the future about how we can help you with staying active but still get some screen time.
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.
