Skateboard economics

The news that two Jackson Optimist clubs will contribute $30,000 apiece to build a 4,800-square-foot park for skateboarders is a truly generous gesture, but it was not met with enthusiasm from some of the skateboarders who attended a meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen last week.

One 14-year-old complained that Jackson's skate park is going to be too much like Cape Girardeau's, which he says nobody likes. The Cape Girardeau park and the one proposed in Jackson provide steel ramps and rails skateboarders use to perform tricks.

Skateboarders say they like the 25,000-square-foot park in Farmington, Mo., where they, along with inline skaters and BMX bike riders, are welcome. The concrete Farmington SK8 Park provides a surface skateboarders far prefer.

But Shane West Anderson, Jackson's parks and recreation director, says concrete parks usually cost two or three times as much as the steel modular park proposed in Jackson.

The Cape Girardeau park, built last year on two seldom-used tennis courts in Missouri Park, doesn't have a problem with crowding.

Some skateboarders say the Cape Girardeau park and the planned park in Jackson are better than not having a skate park. But if they really want to enjoy their sport, they convince a parent to drive them to Farmington. Others say these skateboard parks destroy any hope of getting a "real" skateboard park.

More input from skateboarders obviously is necessary before the Jackson skate park is built.

This also seems to be a case where collaboration between Jackson and Cape Girardeau and perhaps Scott City could benefit everyone. The Cape Girardeau Evening Optimists donated $15,000 for the ramps, rails and rectangular platform in Cape Girardeau. Jackson will spend at least $60,000. Why not consider spending the money on a regional skate park?

Farmington's park cost $350,000 to build, which the city financed itself. During peak times, the park is used by 200 skaters at a time, not all of them from Farmington. Bud Norman, the city's parks director, says the city planned all along to build a regional attraction.

With an estimated 25 million skaters in the United States, it no longer can be called a fad. Skateboarding has become a sophisticated sport and a lifestyle with its own clothing and celebrities. Concrete Disciples, a Web site that rates skateboard parks across North America, says the Farmington park is OK for beginners. Skaters are tough critics. Cape Girardeau's park is not among the 15 parks rated in Missouri.

The message from the skateboarders seems to be that the area doesn't need two underfunded skate parks. It needs one good one. If money is to be spent, let's build something skateboarders really want and will use.