Grease wheels for skatepark

Dan Shapero

The YMCA skate park task force is putting some finishing touches on a

draft site plan that will be submitted to the city planning

department for review. It is likely they will schedule a public

hearing in the form of a concept review within the next couple of

months.

Based on the public feedback/issues/concerns, we will have a

better idea of what type of restrictions will be placed on our

development and what type of studies will be required to develop the

skate park at the dog park location. Your input and support of this

process is crucial to getting the type of park YOU want so it is

important that YOU participate in this process.

A yahoo group has been set up at https://groups.yahoo.

com/group/sk8Laguna/ to better share information about our cause.

Last week, [former mayor] Ann Christoph suggested we try a temporary

skate park first. While it is great to get Ann’s recognition that our

community needs a skate park, it is disappointing that she and others

in the community think we need to experiment with a second-rate

facility made of temporary skate park obstacles that can be moved

from location to location. This approach has been tried in other

communities (Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii).

According to the website www.50-50.com “these obstacles severely

fail to attract users and are often left unused.” I doubt it is Ann’s

intent for us to develop a park that is sure to fail.

While it would be great to have mini-skate parks in every local

neighborhood, this does not replace the need for a supervised

gathering point for the youth of our community.

The reality is most public facilities in Laguna have already been

turned into skate parks. The dog park location has been selected and

contracted by our elected officials as the designated property to

build our park.

Any location in Laguna has its drawback as well as its attributes.

Suggesting another location only continues the shell game of

depriving our kids the opportunity to participate in a popular sport

in an organized manner within their own city limits.

Remember -- if your city doesn’t have a skate park, it is a skate

park.

* DAN SHAPERO is chairman of the YMCA Skate Park Task Force. He

can be contacted at [email protected]