Saturday 21 December 2019

A Skate Park - Finally! - 8/24/2005

Wednesday, August 24, 2005
A Skate Park - Finally!
On a perfect day for skating, Costa Mesa dedicated it's brand new Volcom Skate Park yesterday. In attendance there was an enthusiastic throng of residents, past and current city officials, staff members and eager skaters, ready to get rollin'.

This park, the first such facility in our city, is a generation overdue. Some of the prime movers in this process were children when they first began asking for a skate park and now they have skating kids of their own. The delay notwithstanding, the facility is wonderful and the young people using it seemed to be pleased. I guess a million bucks can buy happiness.

It was supremely ironic to watch the four city council members who made it to the ceremony line up for the ribbon-cutting and to consider that three of them had nothing at all to do with it being built and Mayor Allen Mansoor was not an enthusiastic supporter of the project. That didn't keep him from donning borrowed pads and helmet and briefly skating cautiously on the flat spots on the course while mugging for the cameras. Ah, the perks of power...

I was pleased to see former councilman Mike Scheafer at the dedication. The skaters of this city owe him a debt of gratitude, because it was his persistence during his short tenure on the council that got this ball rolling.

Congratulations to all involved for a job well done, and thanks to the young new millionaires at Volcom who have provided sponsorship for this facility. Now it's time to get moving on more venues, so all the children of this city can enjoy their passion for skating. Rather than try to find another large hunk of land for another large facility, my suggestion is to consider carving out several smaller pieces in the numerous neighborhood "pocket parks" around this town. Each could be different from the others in size and complexity, but would provide assessable locations for more of our children to skate safely.
2:59 pm pdt

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