5.9. SR 04-21-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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81 Elk River Star News / Wednesday, April 9, 1997 I¥outh , Skateboarders search for At a Glance: a Teens fought."successfully last fall for a skate park. The Issue Teens want a skate park. The dilemma It's relatively expensive, because of insurance com- pany demands. How to ~et involved · Call eom- inanity Recre- ation at 241- 3523. · Attend the Elk River Park and Recreation Conunission meeting. It will be held at 7 p.m., April 16, at Elk River City Hall. Fast Facts: Types of skate board ramps · haif-l~ipes · 1/4-ptpes · pyramids · fun boxes · s_pines · fiat banks Types of skateboard moves · kick flips · heel flips · shuv-its · fifty-fi ftie.~ The solution, however, was only temporary. Efforts for a permanent skate park are underway, but the costs of insuring such a park has slowed the process down. by Jim Boyle Staff writer , The night time skies of Elk River will soon be filled with the crack of aluminum hats a ainst laced leather baseballs and the thump of checkered soccer balls bouncin~ of. of athletic shoes not to mention the chatter of the young boys and girls playing these games. What YOu won't Jeff Asfahi hear anytime soon, · however, is the whir of skateboard wheels on asphalt at an Elk River skate park. Skateboarders are once /igain without a place to call their own, and their hopes of the city jening a permanent skate park at e start of the 1997 skate season were dashed this winter by a bit of lawyerly advice. "A lot of people are starting to get frnstrated," said 17-year-old Lance Cunningham of Zimmerman. "It's tough not having a place to skate." City officials were advised over the winter that a skate park better be insured to limit the city's liabili- Dy. Insurance for a 8,400 square foot skate park costs about $6,000 . per year. What's mo~'e0 the only way an insurance company will insure such a park is if it's fenced . supervised and has ramps that meet certain codes. Current estiinates indicate· a skate park could cost $75,000 or more. "I'm still optimistic we can get one established tiffs year, but we may hn,,c, t,. ~,-ttl. f'm, thr~ C,r,~ .,-iota model rather than a Cadillac," said Community Recreation Director JeffAsfahl, who has been intimate- ly involved with efforts to establish a skate park and the "Youth Initia- tires" process that has been work- lng on a wide Variety of youth ini- tiatives. "I think with some com- ttPhrOmise on skaters, we will have a place which lne e ts insurers' expec- tations with solid partner- ships with the city, the com- munity recre- ation office and the com- munity. I would encour- age the youth to hang in there, be patient and get involved." The Elk River Parks and Recreation board has been supportive of the project all along, but it wants to know how the project can be done. Options being considered to make the project more financially feasi- ble include: · staffing the site with volunteers · limiting the number of ramps in the begim~ing new home from the community · finding a site that already meets some of the req~iremente . · holding student-led fund fund- raisers Cunningham and his cronies already plan to wage a fund-raising campaign. They held a fund-miser a couple weeks ago at the Elk River ice arena. While more than 200 kids turned out for open skate boarding and concerts, 400-500 were needed to turn a significant profit. Cunningham remains optimistic, however, and he has been pleased with the ~ity's efforts. ~Phey have been try- \ lng their best," he said. Cunningh~am led the · charge last year when area skateboarders worked t~ get a park. The city 'bf Elk River, with the help of local teens, established a tom- · porary skate park last fall on a vacant perking lot used for parking during tile spring and summer months. It satisfied skateboard- ers, local buainessmen who had shooed the kids away fi.om the~ places of business and 1°~ al police who were caught in the middle. Police c/ills about skateboarders t, also dropped from 10 to 15 pe.r week down to zero. e skateboarder~ even put on an exhibition for the community that attracted hundreds of people. "We need to keep going," Cnn- ninghain says. "I lmow I'~n going to stick with it. I'm definitely not gnin~ to giw~, up now."