This petition is in response to the upcoming acquisition of the Major Taylor Velodrome facility and skate park by Marian College. Indianapolis Indiana roughly has a population of approx.810,000, and is the 11th largest city in the nation. It has one and only public skate park that is in the process of being turned over to Marian College (a private school) for "management" due to the fact that the Indianapolis Parks Dept. is in a financial crisis. The college is apparently taking over a whole sports complex, in which the skate park resides, consisting of a Velodrome, a BMX dirt track, and our lovable 15,300 square foot underdog of a skate park. The college is focusing on the Velodrome because it has its own fixed gear bicycle racing team that it races on. Initially, the college wanted the skate park bulldozed, but the city would not relinquish that privilege. The next request by Marian College was to charge admission to a formerly PUBLIC skate park with *NO* intent to set those funds aside for the skate park itself. After finding that they would have to get an insurance policy if the park was staffed, they decided they would want to have set hours for the skate park, which had previously been open 24 hours a day. During those hours of operation, the skate park currently serves thousands upon thousands of users per year, sometimes hundreds a day. The skateboarder population in Indianapolis is estimated to be somewhere over 40,000 and growing, as of a 2006 census. The park has been open since 1999/2000, and is the kingpin of the skateboarder/BMXing/rollerblading community in Indianapolis. There have been many contests, D.I.Y. events such as the Gnar-B-Q, and many skate clinics held there. The skate park keeps a lot of people happy,sane, and content, and OUT OF TROUBLE ! despite being too small, outdated, and insufficient for the growing population. A lot of users of the park state that they tolerate the conditions merely because they have nothing else. The argument is..."why can't the college do what it will with the property, and simply leave the skate park alone and open 24hrs. The city has been approached many times by the locals themselves wanting to donate their own blood,sweat,and tears to maintain the park, and to raise funds to keep it open and growing, only to be ignored. So to put this park in the hands of a privately run institution, with its own special interests, that has no motivation to run it, is not a solution. It is ethically and morally wrong. All we ask is that the skate park remain PUBLIC, FREE OF CHARGE, and open 24 hours a day. There has never been a problem with this in the past 9 or so years, and we would like to keep it that way. *Keep in mind that after you submit your signature, a donation feature pops up. That in no way is an obligation to donate money. All we need is for you to sign the petition. We would be truly grateful. Time is of the utmost essence on this one, so please go to the attached link and sign that puppy as soon as you read this. Thank You truly, the skaters of Indianapolis Indiana.

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