SA residents ask council to rebuild or redesign homemade BMX track
Proactive kids in suburban Adelaide banded together to build a series of BMX bike jumps along a suburban street – now they’re petitioning locals after council stopped the sweet ride in its tracks
READING LEVEL: GREEN
A group of children who spent countless hours building a homemade BMX bike track have been left devastated* after an Adelaide council removed their jumps.
For years, families had asked Charles Sturt Council to create something for kids to do in the suburb of Grange.
When nothing was done, proactive* local kids picked up their tools and got to work building a series of bike jumps along Sunset Crescent next to the Grange train station.
“We just wanted something local that we could all enjoy,” said Tyson Mutton, 12. “We want something to do and somewhere to go on the weekend and after school.”
Tyson, along with his mates Noah, Blake and other riders, spent the better part of the past month building up the track with dirt mounds of different heights.
The group was devastated to find out last week that all their hard work was going to be demolished*.
“I was down here when they did it, it was pretty sad,” Tyson said.
Residents were also disappointed to hear about the track’s removal, praising the boys’ initiative*.
“I thought this was a great outlet for children to get outside on their bikes and getting exercise, rather than being cooped up inside with their electronic devices,” said local dad Dan Jones.
“I have been asking for years for the council to build play equipment and exercise equipment on the Sunset Crescent reserve for the local families to use.
“If the council are going to do this, they need to build more public playgrounds, bike tracks for kids and exercise equipment in local parks/reserves so that it is walking distance from their homes.”
However, the decision didn’t deter* the group, sparking an online petition with more than 150 signatures asking the council to either reinstate the track or build something else for the children to ride on.
Tyson said the success of another petition over a nearby homemade bike track gave him hope.
“Another spot down at Brickworks went through the same thing, they got over 700 signatures and council listened to them, hopefully they do the same with us,” Tyson said.
A council spokesman said the demolition was in no way a deterrence to kids seeking an active lifestyle, but merely an opportunity to build something for the whole community.
“When it was brought to our attention, it didn’t meet a number of our by-laws and if someone was to fall over, we as a council have a duty of care,” the spokesman said.
“We have to make it safe but we don’t want to crush it and tell them to go away. There is obviously a need for it and now we will look at what we can do on the site to keep everyone happy.”
GLOSSARY
- devastated: very disappointed and upset
- proactive: actively making something happen yourself rather than passively waiting for it
- demolished: flattened, destroyed, knocked down
- initiative: new attempt to achieve a goal or solve a problem, new way of doing something
- deter: to prevent or discourage someone from doing something
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QUICK QUIZ
- What has local dad Dan Jones been asking the council for over a period of years?
- How many signatures has the petition attracted so gar?
- How many signatures did a similar petition get in a neighbouring Adelaide suburb?
- Why did the council remove it?
- What did the council spokesman say the council would do now?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Community recreation area
Do you have a park, reserve or community area that you would like to draw up plans for, to send to your local council? It might currently be empty or need facilities changed or upgraded. Or it might be a new area where you see a need for something in the community.
Choose your location, brainstorm some ideas and sketch up a proposed plan for this area.
Share with a friend or classmate. If you want to follow it up, you could send or email to your local council as a suggestion.
Time: allow 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Visual Arts; Design and Technologies; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Do you think it’s fair that this bike track in South Australia was torn down by the council? What would happen if kids/adults all over the country decided to build things on council land?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.
Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.
Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?
Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.