IRVINE : City OKs Funding for Roller Hockey Court

As the popularity of roller hockey increases, city officials plan to spend $29,000 to make it easier and safer for teen-agers to play the sport.

The City Council recently approved the allocation when it adopted the 1994-95 fiscal year budget.

Council members said the move is part of a larger effort aimed at providing productive activities for youths. In the past year, the city has spent thousands of dollars to improve after-school programs and athletic activities.

Roller hockey is a popular sport among youths, in part because it can be played on any large concrete or asphalt surface. Players wear in-line skates.

Teens use empty parking lots, tennis courts and even residential streets to play the game, City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said.

The city plans to use the funds allocated to either create a permanent roller hockey court at a local park or buy a portable court.

The goal is to prevent teens from playing hockey in dangerous areas, where they could be hit by cars or cause accidents, Brady said.

“An increasing number of (teens) . . . play this sport,” he said. “We want to find a way to accommodate athem.”

The council added the roller hockey funding to the budget just before it approved the document at a meeting last week. Money for the program will come from the personal aide accounts of each council member.

Providing more youth activities was a key recommendation of the Safe Community Task Force, a group of city and school officials that last year studied ways to reduce teen violence in thecity.

The task force also suggested beefing up police presence at local schools. Toward that goal, the new city budget allocates $95,000 to pay for a drug prevention officer to work with middle school students.