Warrenton city aldermen are renewing a push to build a public skate park in response to young people in the downtown area being implicated in a recent string of vandalism.Advocates say children and teens in the area need more to do.Within the last two months, there have been at least 10 incidents of broken windows, graffiti or other property damage in the downtown area, according to police. At least one business owner reportedly saw minors fleeing after a rock was thrown through her glass door.Ward One Alderman Greg Costello said he is dismayed by the vandalism.“If we don’t try to do something about that, we’re going to see it get worse,” Costello said. He commented that many of the young people seen downtown are using sidewalks and parking lots for skateboarding.Costello asked his fellow city leaders to renew a push for a skate park that began several years ago.“I don’t think that would be the total answer, but at least it would be an attempt to try to move the kids to an area where they’re welcome to skateboard,” Costello said.He noted that he has received positive remarks from people in O’Fallon about the behavior of the young people who use that city’s skate park.Ward Two Alderman Gary Auch said making a place for skaters to go is a clear issue and needs to be made a priority for the city.“These kids need someplace to hang out, to do their thing,” Auch said.He added that a previously planned skate park within Khoury Park on Walton Street would be a great location.City Administrator Terri Thorn said money to pay for engineering services for a skate park is already planned in the city’s 2018-2019 budget. In response to a request from Auch, she said the time for getting the engineering done could be sped up.The original plan for the skate park began in 2011 when the board of aldermen announced that construction would be done with the help of a Tony Hawk grant, Thorn said.She explained that getting the grant would have required a great deal of participation from the youth who would use the park. That included fundraising to help pay for the cost of the park.The first public meeting about the skate park had high attendance, but Thorn said by the time the city started planning for fundraising, only a few people were showing up to the meetings.“Based upon the lack of parties interested enough to even attend the meetings or get involved in the required fundraising, it was determined that the skate park was no priority,” Thorn explained. “The project was subsequently removed from the budget.”City of Warrenton logo