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Keep Skateboard Park at TeWinkle

By Anne-Hogan Shereshevsky
OC Voice Columnist
(Oct. Nov. 2007)

Imagine another skateboard park in the City of the Arts. On the night of August 21st, we saw the Costa Mesa City Council agenda’s consent calendar present a study of another skateboard park.

The winter edition of the Community News and Recreation Review of Costa Mesa named all the parks in our city. Why would Lions Park with its measly 10 acres and at least 5 buildings on the property be chosen as a possible venue for this second skateboard park?

TeWinkle Park was intelligently chosen for the first skate park, but, Lions Park has residents living within yards of the park. Noise, pollution, traffic accidents on 18th, flooding in the area, and the fact that the park is utilized almost every day, or at least every weekend, for picnics, celebrations, and the major yearly event—the great Lions Fish Fry—utilizing the shelter with the fire pit—a major fundraiser for the nonprofit groups. Did you know that this group donates money from this event to dozens of nonprofits in the local area?

In the Community News and Recreation Review booklet there are several Costa Mesa parks mentioned with their amenities, including their actual acreage:

Canyon has 35 acres; the Farm on Fairview has 14.5 acres; Wakeham has 10 acres; Estancia on Adams has 10 acres; and TeWinkle (which already has one skate park) has 49 acres. Fairview, the Patriarch of Parks, the sacred ground of Indian relics, has 210 acres.

What will a 15,000 sq. ft. skateboard park do to this (Lions) open space park? Can the Parks and Recreation Commission respond & explain why Lions' Park with its nearby residents is being considered? 

Some residents feel that skateboarding is a dangerous sport. Who will pay for their broken bones? In general, we know kids want to have the sport and get out of the street. But let's use common sense and plan this project in a larger place, away from residential areas. Garden grove has no skateboard parks. Are the kids surviving?

Those who feel strongly about this project, be at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 1 for a further discussion of this proposal. Those of you who cannot come to the 6 p.m. meeting can write or e-mail your thoughts to the city council members. Remember, don't settle for a "smaller” 5,000 sq. ft. skate park. Not in lions' park.

Drive over to TeWinkle to see the first park. It is well done and in the right spot of town!

hogan41@sbcglobal.net

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OC Voice PDF

Oct. 2007

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