Optimists put up $60,000 for skate park in Jackson

About 25 skateboarders, along with several parents, attended a Jackson Board of Aldermen study session Monday night to find out what the city and Jackson Optimist clubs had in mind for a skate park.

The Evening and Noon Optimist clubs have put up $30,000 apiece for a skate park and were finally, after several months of work, ready to go public.

As far as the skateboarders were concerned, the plans were something of a wipeout.

Several skateboarders said they would rather have a concrete park like Farmington's, than a steel modular park like the one the Optimist Clubs agreed to build.

The concrete parks, skateboarders say, provide more opportunities for tricks and make a better surface for their skateboards.

"It looks just like the one they have over in Cape," said 14-year-old skateboarder Jake Schnurbusch. "And nobody likes it."

Kirk Brotherton, 14, said the skateboarders would occasionally use the proposed park but still travel to Farmington for more serious skating.

Schnurbusch's mother, Debbie Schnurbusch, said she has spent between 70 and 80 hours at Farmington over the years, taking Jake and his friends skateboarding.

"The car is not big enough to haul all the kids," she said.

Schnurbusch said for a birthday party, she once rented a van to take several boys to Farmington. They spent the night at a hotel and skated all day the next day.

Several of the skateboarders said Farmington's park never gets old and they'll spend several hours at a time there.

A few parents Monday night said they were happy that the Optimist clubs have shown interest in the skateboarders and that they would be willing to seek additional funds to pay for the extra costs for a concrete park.

Concrete parks typically cost two to three times more than the steel modular parks, parks director Shane West Anderson said. Anderson said the steel modular devices were the best option considering the money that was available.

Members of the Optimist clubs, who put in a considerable amount of time over the past several months on this project, said the proposal was just a starting point and that the park could expand in the future.

The area of the proposed park is 80 feet by 60 feet concrete slab with the steel ramps and an 8-foot fence surrounding the skate area.

While critical of the plans, the skateboarders definitely see a need for a park.

Because there is no public place for skateboarding, skaters often resort to parking lots and streets to practice their sport. They are often chased away.

Michael Hilderbrand, who attended the meeting, got caught skating at a gas station on Monday.

Others have been taken to the jail by city police to have parents come and get them.

"The point is that there has been a nationwide interest in skateboarding," Anderson said. "The sports we have are organized, and this would be complementing the team sports and allow an avenue for expression, which is skateboarding."

Mayor Paul Sander directed the park board to have more discussion and advised the parents of the skateboarders to visit with the Optimists to continue dialogue.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635