The Karpoš skate park is falling apart and the riders are raising the money themselves: the municipality issued a permit and nothing else

The injuries do not come from risky tricks, they come from holes in the surface. That is the sentence Skopje's skate community used to launch its fundraising drive to rebuild the skate park in Karpoš - and it says more about how public space is maintained here than any municipal report.

The park is used every day by children and young people from Skopje and beyond. It is open, free, no membership, no sign-up, no selection. For many of them it is the only place where they can freely ride a skateboard, rollerblades or a BMX. Which is exactly why the state it is in today is not a trivial matter.

What has fallen apart

The wooden surfaces are cracked, the metal edges and rails have worked loose, parts of the structures are unstable and eaten by corrosion. The composite elements have given all they had after years of heavy use. The risk of injury, as the community puts it, does not come from the sport itself but from the holes and the damaged surfaces.

The restoration plan is specific: replacing worn wooden and composite elements with concrete solutions, repairing the riding surfaces, rebuilding the ramps and fitting new metal edges and rails. The money requested goes on concrete, metal, materials and labour.

The municipality gave a permit. The users are raising the money.

The Municipality of Karpoš issued the necessary reconstruction permit. The next step - paying for it - has been taken on by the volunteers themselves. The drive is run by "Extreme Sports Skopje", with account 210-0602535801-87 and an online campaign on the WhyDonate platform.

This is where it is worth stopping. A permit is an administrative act and it costs nothing. Concrete costs. Labour costs. And when the community that uses a facility has to raise that money itself, the question is not whether it will succeed - it probably will, the skate scene knows how to organise. The question is whose budget line should have covered this a long time ago.

"This is not only about better riding conditions, but about safety and about caring for a public space that belongs to young people", the community says. A message addressed to fellow citizens - and one that could just as easily be addressed a few doors higher up.