Rebecca Ezrin
[follow id=”CPMustangNews”]
After eight years of seeking funds, planning and construction, the city of San Luis Obispo’s new skate park is finally complete.
The first skate park in San Luis Obispo opened at Santa Rosa Park back in 1994. Built by volunteers, the wooden ramps provided minimal area for the skateboarding community to ride.
After years of gradual deterioration, skateboarders beseeched the San Luis Obispo City Council to build a new park in 2007. The park was adopted as a major city goal that same year, but it only came to fruition when Mayor Jan Marx and the city council later incorporated it into the 2013-15 financial plan.
“The design has been carefully developed over the years with community input,” Marx said. “The park is in the center of the city. It will become a place for the whole community. It is also walking distance from Cal Poly, and many Cuesta kids live around here. I am hoping to see many college-aged students hanging around here.”
The park’s construction cost approximately $2.2 million. The funding largely came from the city’s Measure Y revenue, in addition to a grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, parkland fees and donations. Executive director Miki Vuckovich represented the Tony Hawk Foundation at the park’s unveiling.
After months of construction beginning in June 2014, the park is now finished and open to the public. The new 15,500-square-foot concrete park consists of an outdoor amphitheater, a fitness path, public art and a plaza for seating.
The park is also decorated with four 30-foot concrete and steel trees, which can be skated on. The trees are part of the park’s “concrete jungle” theme.
The skate park is unfenced and open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. It serves as a means for effectively drawing people of the community together regardless of age, industrial engineering sophomore Josh Yolland said. Yolland served as a volunteer at the park’s opening.
“There are Cal Poly students, there are old people here,” he said. “Skateboarding is one of those things that bring people together of all ages.”
The grand opening drew a crowd of approximately 1,000 people.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that most of the funds for the park came from the Tony Hawk Foundation. It has been updated with the accurate information.