A group of fourteen supporters of the proposed Tyrone skate park met with Tyrone council member Bill Latchford and other council members on Friday, May 1st at the Joshua House in Tyrone to discuss the future of the project.

“I was very happy with the turnout. I thought it was very productive,” said Latchford,”We didn’t do anything major other than discussing. It was like a get together to see what’s on the table; to see what’s on other people’s minds.”

Latchford feels that he got a consensus from council on a location that the park could be built. Unfortunately, the location he has in mind is private property.

“I have to see if this person is willing to donate that property to the borough for the purpose of building a skate park on it,” said Latchford.

According to Latchford, he would like to keep the property and the owner’s name anonymous for now to avoid public scrutiny or pressure.

“I am going to be a very patient person and hopefully convey to them how great it would be to give up this piece of property that looks like it is doing no good to them at all.  They are just that they’re paying taxes on it. To me, unless I really have plans for the property, I would probably consider a donation to a good cause. So we’ll see if I can convince this person of that,” said Latchford.

Latchford said that he doesn’t believe there is any suitable borough owned property available except possibly Shea Field, which is on lease from the American Eagle Paper Mills.

“Without a home, it’s really hard for us to solve anything. [If] the property that I have in mind comes to fruition that will address council’s issue with policing, traffic, parking and things like that. I think it will go pretty smoothly. This property…will work out great for us,” said Latchford.

Latchford says one of the big issues that council has is an increase in criminal activity, damage or vandalism if a skate park is built. Based on how long the young people and kids have waited for this park, he believes they’re not going to let that happen.

“They’re going to really pitch in, keep it clean, and I’ll make sure we have trash receptacles for them to keep it clean. I don’t doubt that they would self-police the facility. I think we will be able to make the council understand that if we get to that point,” said Latchford.

Currently, there is no date set for a second meeting, but Latchford is already planning what needs to be discussed.

“I do not have the date of a next meeting because getting this property is the most important thing at this moment. So I’m putting all my thoughts into it. Once we get a home then we can really sit down and discuss everything from fundraising to designing and then eventual building. The fundraising will be our next huge obstacle once we get a piece of property,” said Latchford.

“I’m going to keep going until I get a definite ‘no way, no how,’ or until we get a park,” said Latchford.