CAPITOLA, Calif. - New information on a Central Coast city considering a skate park, costing nearly half a million dollars. It's money the City of Capitola doesn't have.
Supporters say, it will prevent skateboarders from breaking the law, especially after the death of an elderly woman back in July.
On Thursday night, there weren't any skateboarders near the Stockton Avenue bridge, outside Capitola Village. But, it's in a crosswalk there, a skateboarder crashed into and killed 83-year-old Maryann Slettehaugh last July.
Since the crash, there's a strong push for a place, where skateboarders can legally skate. On Thursday night, the city of Capitola unveiled plans for a skate park.
At a packed city council meeting, a lot of people said they wanted it, including Capitola Police Chief Mike Card.
"I think a skate board park offers an attractive alternative for a lot of our kids who find places to skate, where they shouldn't be skating," says Card.
But, Salinas Police said, its skate park at Natividad Creek Park hasn't made a significant impact. Commander Dave Shaw said, they still receive complaints from businesses in Old Town, with skateboarders running into people and performing tricks on sides of buildings.
One skateboarder even admitted he skates in Old town.
"We still go around there and go a few spots," says Eddie Sosa, Salinas skateboarder.
Still, Chief Card and the people at Thursday's meeting believe a skate park will make a difference in preventing any more accidents in their town.
"The proposed skate park is about half a mile away from Stockton Avenue bridge where we had that fatality," says Chief Card.
Most of the funding from this skate park will come from private sources. At the Capitola city council meeting, council members voted to bring the plans back to the designer to save the trees, make it less intense and reduce the size from 9,000 square feet from 6,000 square feet.
Submitted by Azenith Smith, Central Coast News
