Pittsburgh dumped piles of sand on skate park, then skaters cleaned up the park

The city of Pittsburgh thought it could stop people from skating at a local skate park by putting a lock on the gate. Skaters cut the chain for the lock. City officials then thought they could stop people from going to the Polish Hill skate park by dumping piles of sand on it. That plan was foiled after skaters cleaned up the park.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto (D) ordered the West Penn State Park in Polish Hill to be covered with sand to keep people from skating on Thursday.

Someone quickly reacted with a Craigslist listing advertising "free sand" at the Polish Hill skate park. "Can be used for sandboxes, gardening, or to stage a reenactment of Raising Arizona," the ad read.

Then on Thursday night, someone retaliated against politicians by dumping a pile of sand at the doorstep of city hall.

The sand plan was thwarted on Saturday morning when a group of people grabbed some shovels and wheelbarrows to remove the sand from the skate park. The cleanup effort was organized by popular activist Scott Presler, who is no stranger to cleaning up other people's messes.

Police shut down the cleanup, but the sand had already been removed.

This is exactly what happened in California, when the city of San Clemente unloaded 37 tons of sand on its skate park to stop people from skateboarding. The sandy course attracted dirt bike riders, and then skaters cleaned up the park.

Presler previously made national headlines for his inner-city cleanup efforts in Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.