Councils do a lot of work to engage the youth in their community, but this time it was the teenagers in Tallangatta knocking on the door of local government to get the outcome they wanted.
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The town's revamped skate park was officially launched today, following a two-year push by Gavin Davis, 16, for better amenities at the site.
"We moved here five years ago and over time more people came to use the park," he said.
"I started a petition to get water bubbles and seats and shade, because we were just sitting on the grass, and my neighbour helped me draw up the petition.
"We got 500 signatures by putting it in local shops and asking people at the high school."
The Tallangatta High and Wodonga TAFE VCAL student door-knocked, spoke at Rotary meetings and worked with Towong Council's youth officer Renee Carkeek on plans.
"It looks way better ... maybe next we could expand the concrete," Gavin said.
In other news:
Towong mayor David Wortmann thanked the involvement of schools at the launch.
"After a couple false starts with extreme heat and rain to launch the park, we're here to open it and we're absolutely stoked with the outcome," he said.
"One River, One Mob from Mungabareena helped the students create totem poles for the park.
"We hope to roll this model out in other places around the shire, to breathe new life into community spaces."
Award-winning street art network Juddy Roller was engaged to create a mural on the skate park, one of three in Towong shire.
Funding for the project came from Freeza ($3,000) and Crime Prevention Victoria ($10,000).
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