(Courtesy of Creative Commons)

A small group of local skateboarders watched as Councilmember Bill Rosendahl and members of the Los Angeles parks and recreations committee broke ground on a new skate park in Westchester on Monday.

Approved back in December 2010, the park is part of a $1 million improvement project for the Westchester Recreation Center.

“We’re here to improve this park,” Rosendahl said, “The best way to avoid gangs and crime and violence is intervention and prevention strategies.” 

Construction workers were already dismantling the current Westchester Recreation Center playground as Rosendahl addressed the small crowd of city officials and community members. 

The total improvements include upgrades to the children’s playground and renovations to other courts and fields on the premises. Alone, the new skate park will cost nearly $280,000. 

Rosendahl said that while public recreational funding, known as Quimby Funds, would pay for most of the improvements, the new skate park would not be possible without financial support from the private sector.

“By giving people a home you give them a voice and you give them an identity,” said Charles Annenberg-Weingarten of Explore.org, an organization under the Annenberg Foundation that donated $125,000 to build the park for local skaters.  

Annenberg-Weingarten used to skateboard as a child and said that skateboarding is a healthy, environmentally-friendly activity. 

“It takes the unbridled energy of youth and channels it,” he said. “And it’s completely self-generated.”

The city also enlisted the help of Steve Berra, famous skateboarder and co-owner of TheBerrics.com, a popular skateboarding website that gets over 6 million site views a month.

Berra worked alongside architect Jason King to design the 1,100-square-foot plaza.

“We designed what we could with the money that we had, and what we thought would be desired the most by the skateboarders,” Berra said. 

As Berra spoke, the small group of skateboarders who attended the ceremony began to skate around the current basketball court. Wearing baseball caps, flannel shirts and skinny jeans, the group rolled around the flat cement court that will become the new multi-level skate structure.

“We’re going to have stairs, ledges, rails and flat bars,” Berra said.  “Everyone at their particular skill can skate the park.” 

Berra said that in the past, contractors have built skate parks that were rarely used because architects did not understand skaters’ needs. 

“They never really asked anyone who skates and shaped the culture to help design,” he said. 

Following the ceremony, officials called the group of young skaters over to look at the park designs and give final input.

“The point is to give them a spot and to let them skate,” said Michael Craig, a member of the parks and recreation committee and a skateboarder for over 40 years. 

Craig said skateboarding is practically illegal throughout the city and that this park will keep local skateboarders from getting tickets and being harassed on the streets.

Max Coleman said he is grateful. A student at nearby Loyola Marymont University and an avid skateboarder, Coleman was present at the original planning meetings, and lead the pledge of allegiance at Monday’s ceremony. 

“I’m going to live right across the street,” he said. “I’m sure I will be here every day.”

The Westchester skate park is the third in Rosendahl’s district. It is set to open at the end of summer.