April 17, 2008

Mayor rolls up council’s sleeves,

seeks skateboard park options

By Stephen McFadden

Publisher

“When skateparks are situated within the community, skateboarders become a part of the community,” said Tony Hawk, one of the nation’s premier professional skateboarders.

Mayor Linda Kadlec has embraced Hawk’s belief. Tuesday she led the city council on a tour or prospective sites for a possible skatepark that would provide a new recreation option for local youths.

While no decisions were made during the tour or Tuesday’s city council meeting, the local panel of elected officials agreed to continue researching options that could bring a skatepark to Ritzville.

As part of the discussion, community member Ann Olson presented a PowerPoint presentation regarding skateparks and the required planning steps that must be complete before the city or any other organization could turn to the Tony Hawk Foundation in pursuit of grant funding for the park.

Hawk’s foundation was designed to promote and help finance public skateparks in low-income areas. The foundation has distributed $1,700,000 to non-profit groups building skateparks all across the United States. According to Olson, the foundation funds one out of every 20 grant requests.

Council members learned that skateboarding is the fastest growing extreme sport with 4.6 percent of the nation’s population taking part in the sport. There are currently 2,200 skateparks in the nation with 10 new parks arriving every month.

To effectively seek grant funding from the Tony Hawk Foundation, Olson explained that the project must be well planned, organized and ready to start construction when the grant request is funded. The development process, she said, requires a vision, local advocacy and a comprehensive design before fund-raising efforts can begin.

Based on the presentation, Olson explained that the cost of constructing a skatepark in 2007 averaged $40 per square foot. A new park constructed in Wilson Creek received grant funding from the Tony Hawk Foundation. That project also enjoyed construction support from the Job Corps facility based in Moses Lake.

“Site selection is very important. It’s not one size fits all. Design is very important too,” Olson said.

Siting criteria distributed to the council stated “the most engaging, socially sustainable skateparks reside where the whole community can enjoy them. Like any public gathering space, skatepark users have the same kinds of needs that other ‘ordinary’ park users might.”

The skateparks, according to the criteria, should be accessible to the broader community. Remote skateparks “will only attract those people who have the means to reach it.”

The surrounding skatepark area, the criteria stated, should be active with other users. “The diversity keeps the environment interesting and vibrant; without it, the space will feel ‘overrun’ and homogenous…a place for skaters only.”

Kadlec said the council will continue to examine options for a potential skatepark location. Once a site has been identified, Olson said she will help with the grant writing process.