4.17. SR 12-21-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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“It’s an excellent street-plaza design, with just enough transitions to make it well-rounded. It has something for all skill levels, and is exactly the type of project, area, and advocacy that we want to get involved with. It should be an example for other communities to follow.” - Tony Hawk, Professional Skateboarder & Founder of Tony Hawk Foundation “It is truly my pleasure to write you about the City of Gardena’s experience working with Spohn Ranch Skateparks. We first started working with Aaron Spohn in 2008 after meeting him at a Professional Recreation Networking session where Mr. Spohn served as an expert panelist on designing and building skateboard parks. After contacting Mr. Spohn following the meeting, he volunteered to meet with our Skateboard Park Committee, our Parks and Recreation Commission and our staff. We agreed and the meetings went exceptionally well. Mr. Spohn answered many questions, gave suggestions and offered to lead us into building the best skateboard park in our area. He was a man true to his words and with his knowledge, dedication and patience, we opened two new skateboard parks in the City of Gardena in 2012. The staff at Spohn Ranch all exceeded our greatest expectations. They worked with us as our staff and City Council delayed our project, made changes to the design of the project and even added a second skateboard park project during the process. They were very accommodating when the project was put on hold for over a year and never put pressure on us while so many changes were being requested and made from our side. We could not be more happy with the professionalism of the Spohn Ranch staff. During the design and build process of the project, Spohn Ranch staff member, Jason Baldessari helped us at every step of the way. He kept us informed as the design of our project moved forward and helped us understand the skateboard park environment as it relates to this generation’s interest in skating. He was always available for questions and expert guidance and was invaluable in his assistance in making the City of Gardena’s skateboard park project a reality. Both of our skateboard parks have been extremely well received by our City Council, our residents and our visitors. We are amazed at the number of children and adults that frequent our park, coming from a variety of nationalities, backgrounds and skating ability. Our parks have been featured in countless You Tube videos featuring children just learning to skate and even more common, professional skateboarders amazing those around the City of Gardena skateboard parks with their tricks and their skills. We are very proud of our final projects in the City of Gardena and would proudly say that it was Spohn Ranch who guided us to make the best skateboard parks around. - Kelly Fujio, Director of Recreation, Human Services, Parks and Facilities ERNEST MCBRIDE SKATEPARK – Long Beach, California ROWLEY & JOHNSON SKATEPARKS – Gardena, California