Skate park group cleans up courts in Dormont
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Three years ago this month, brothers Vincent and Stephen Pitcher died in a drowning accident on a family outing surrounded by the things they loved -- friends, family and the great outdoors.
Last week, friends and family gathered outdoors to put in work to realize something else the young men would have loved -- a skate park in their hometown of Dormont.
The brothers were fans of skateboarding and other so-called extreme sports.
As part of its annual Mission Possible service project last week, youth group troops from the Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church teamed up with Pitcher Park volunteers to clean up the overgrown tennis courts on Memorial Drive.
As specified in the April 5, 2010, motion approved by Dormont council, the Pitcher Park group must renovate the Memorial Drive tennis courts before proceeding with the construction of the skate park on Banksville Road and Dormont Avenue, where they would be building over three community tennis courts.
Mary Pitcher, the young men's mother, who has spearheaded the skate park project, said many from the UP Church, where both her sons were youth group members, asked to help with the required tennis court refurbishment.
She called their act of service a perfect example of the true community spirit she had hoped to inspire by building a skate park in her children's honor.
About 10 to 15 volunteers spent every day last week ripping out the poison ivy and poison oak that blanketed the fenced-in asphalt courts.
Contractor Chris McGee, a Dormont resident, spent the week fixing a corner of the court where the foundation was sagging due to a drainage problem.
Jim Jenkins Lawn and Garden Center on Painters Run Road and Cassandra's Florals on West Liberty Avenue donated a tree, flowers and assorted shrubbery to beautify the small hillside that leads up to the court.
Accounting for donations, Mrs. Pitcher estimated that the project cost her organization about $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses.
But opponents of the skate park have been calling on Mrs. Pitcher to spend more. Because the motion approving the skate park states that Pitcher Park must perform a "reconstruction of the existing tennis courts on Memorial Drive before ground breaking on Banksville Road may begin," they say that a refurbishment of the courts is not enough.
First Published July 21, 2011 5:54 am
