Pokemon Go players address Colonie Town Board on unconfirmed ban
COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -Pokemon Go players have been petitioning against a potential ban of the mobile game at The Crossings Park of Colonie for about a month. On Thursday evening, they finally had a chance to speak to the Town Board and let the members know how they feel.
"We're hoping that this meeting will mark the beginning of meaningful dialogue between Town Officials and the Pokemon Go community," said Spencer Moon, before thanking the Board.
As the admin of a local Pokemon Go group chat on Discord, Moon told NEWS10 back in November that Tom Breslin, the Parks and Rec coordinator, confirmed the rumors of a ban. NEWS10 has not received official confirmation. Since then, Moon's Change.org petition has reached more than 1,200 signatures and his community came prepared to tell the Town why.
"For people who actually are not athletic, this is one of those things where kids can actually go out and learn how to cooperate and strategize with people, other kids. It's probably important to have this outlet," described Steven Young.
Breslin also responded to NEWS10 last month saying that The Crossings is a passive park and not meant for organized gaming pursuits. Supervisor Peter Crummey backed up his words at the meeting:
"There are no 5Ks left at The Crossings. There's misunderstandings about what's happening here. There are no walks anymore. It's all been moved. We redeveloped the Town park," explained Crummey. "As you know already, Parks and Rec have offered other opportunities. We can continue to talk about that. No one on this board is trying to destroy Pokemon, okay?"
Crummey also showed off his Generation I Pokemon card collection at the end of public comment. One of his favorites is Wigglytuff. He has also been invited to play Pokemon Go at The Crossings with Moon and the rest of the community.
NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski has once again reached out to the supervisor to confirm or deny that a Pokemon Go ban is in the works. We have yet to hear back.