3 days ago
Teens accused of using e-bikes to damage basketball and pickleball courts in Beaver County
A group of teens is accused of using e-bikes to damage newly refinished basketball and pickleball courts in Monaca, Beaver County.
After doing a $145,000 project to upgrade Antoline Park, borough manager David Kramer Jr. says five teens damaged the newly paved courts.
"Paint was almost still drying. This was only a month old. So, it's still brand new, so to have this done that early was a shot in the gut," he said on Friday.
Cameras in the park caught the teens on Monday night doing burnouts and jumps on e-bikes, leaving tire marks all over the court. In some cases, the e-bikes tore up the paint and pavement.
"They did quite a bit of damage here for a new park," Kramer said on Friday.
Crews came back on Thursday to do repairs. While the bill hasn't arrived, it could cost $10,000 to $12,000.
"I get kids will be kids, but that was a little bit of a stretch," Kramer said.
Police have spoken with the parents of three of the five kids. Kramer spoke with a parent himself, who says their kid did wrong. In a post, he says the parents may have to pay to cover the cost of the damage.
"We'll get them back into the park to help clean up the park and see what all we do on a daily basis to keep this nice for the community," Kramer said.
The bigger concern he has is e-bike behavior, as they are not allowed in the parks, and there have been people not following the rules of the road
"Not wearing helmets, not obeying traffic rules, stop signs, things like that. Sooner or later, it could get unfortunate. There could be an accident. That's what we're concerned about," Kramer said.
To ensure more safety and less vandalism, the borough plans to add more signage to parks.
