June 13, 2007 - 12:15AM
When Monument shut down its skate park last fall, skaters weren’t pleased. “Dude, we were pissed. We were mad,” said 18-year-old Kyle Hoffman.
Town officials said decaying equipment and acts of vandalism gave them no choice. When officials last summer posted signs asking skaters to take care of the park, someone set them on fire.
Vandals also ignited a portable toilet and chopped down newly planted trees.
Now town officials are giving the skate park another chance: They reopened a stripped-down version of the park last month. But they warn it could close again if vandalism returns.
“I’m trying to be optimistic. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen,” public works director Rich Landreth said.
The park, on Beacon Lite Road, was built by volunteers in 2000.
But last summer, Monument police said it had become a hangout for kids drinking and using drugs, and in September officials announced it would close.
A few months later, Landreth started meeting with local skaters and parents to discuss building a new park or revamping the old one.
“The kids were saying, ‘We’d love to be able to at least use those half-pipes,’” Landreth said. The half-pipes are curved concrete ramps that can’t be moved.
A few weeks ago the town, with the help of skaters, hauled the old, decaying equipment out of the park.
“The wood had rotted to the point where they were becoming unsafe,” Landreth said.
Now the park features two concrete half-pipes, a couple of concrete ramps and one modular ramp made of metal and wood. Metal poles along the sidelines show where benches used to be.
The nine skaters hanging out at the park Tuesday afternoon said most of the vandalism came from teenagers who didn’t use the park for skating.
“The kids that would come here and not skate are the ones who caused problems,” said 17-year-old Dan Frelly.
Frelly’s friends aren’t too excited by the bare-bones park.
“Who’s gonna come down here and skate this?” 17-yearold Mike Cruz said. “It’s better than nothing, I guess.”
But the park could improve. A committee comprising parents and skaters continues to meet and could solicit donations and grants to pay for upgrades, Landreth said. The town also could contribute some funds, he said, though an exact amount hasn’t been determined.
Skating enthusiast Thad Handrick, who helped raise $150,000 to build the park in 2000, hopes the whole financial burden won’t fall to the skaters.
“There’s communities that have top-notch skate parks, and they didn’t ask the kids to have a bake sale to fund it,” Handrick said.
