Wheels keep spinning on skate park future

I find the ongoing, ad nauseum issue of whether to build, or where to

build, a skate park in the Newport-Mesa area a bit like giving birth

to an elephant. Three years ago, we moved back here after seven years

in the Seattle area. In every community we lived in, there was a

skate park for the youth. Even Seattle has a skate park right near

the Space Needle, an area that would possibly attract the “wrong

crowd.” But it is a safe and fun park for all ages.

After returning to Newport Beach, my son and I attended some of

the planning meetings dealing with the skate park issue. I mistakenly

thought that this community would recognize that teens should have a

safe and legal environment to skate in and get the job done. I have

seen Irvine’s park and the skate park in Huntington Beach. It seems

they did not have the resistance to move forward that Newport-Costa

Mesa does.

This week, some summer vacationers from Texas asked where their

boys could go to skateboard, and I had to direct them to Huntington,

Irvine or Vans. They told me in glowing terms of their local

skateboard parks in Dallas. I could not do the same.

Wake up and get off the dime on the skate park issue. It should

not be an elephant whose birth is long overdue. It is not a new

performing arts center. It is a park with a few concrete ramps,

perhaps a fence, perhaps some Parks and Recreation supervision, and a

sign telling what the rules are. It is not rocket science. Get it

done before this generation of skaters are old enough to run the

council and this issue is on their agenda.

NIKI GOOD

Newport Beach