Document text
Charity halfway to skatepark Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Adrian Thornton, 16, of Medford, foreground, and 14-year-old Tyler Vannatta work on their skateboarding moves in the Cascade Mall parking lot, a popular spot in White City for the activity. Organizers figure they're about four months away from breaking ground By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune The 18-year-old skateboarder leaps off a concrete ledge, flips his wheels beneath his feet - and lands directly in the path of an approaching minivan. He moves quickly out of the way, allowing the startled driver to proceed through the parking lot of the Cascade Shopping Center in White City. "We try not to be a problem," says Brian Brown, "because we want to be able to skate here." "This is the best place," agrees Danny Naylor, 16. "They don't kick us out." Soon, however, Brown, Naylor and dozens of other area skateboarders won't have to worry about dodging traffic between tricks. If Loretta Livaudais-Mapes and members of the White City Charitable Foundation have their way, the boarders will have an 80,000-square-foot place of their own, a street-level skate park complete with jumps and ramps and rails. "I absolutely know these kids need something to do that is constructive," says Livaudais-Mapes, a former local elementary school counselor who is spearheading the drive behind the project. So far, she and other foundation members have raised about half of the $220,000 necessary to build the concrete-and-coated-metal park, set to be built on Division Road, next to the Cascade Pool and Burns Park. It's a dream that began five years ago, when local community activists held a series of town hall meetings to determine what activities would appeal to local youth. A skateboard park was at the top of the list, recalls Eric Guyer, former community outreach coordinator for the Rogue Family Center in White City. "This is really what the kids told us they wanted," he says. Before it even began, the project suffered setbacks, says Livaudais-Mapes. It was originally planned to be built next to the Jackson County Boys and Girls Club site in White City. But when that agency was forced to close in 1999, plans for the park languished. Even after the charitable foundation chose the skatepark as its primary project, there were serious concerns: Where would it go? Who would run it? What about insurance? Slowly, however, those concerns have been allayed, Livaudais-Mapes says. The Eagle Point School District, which owns the land for the pool and the surrounding area, agreed to allow construction of the skate park and to insure the structure through the district's policy. Staff at the Cascade Pool and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department have promised regular, if not constant, supervision. The White City Urban Renewal agency agreed to donate $27,000 for landscaping and $74,000 in matching funds for equipment. Now, organizers figure they're about four months away from breaking ground on a park that will help create a positive outlet for young people in a community with few options. "So many kids here have a story and the story is not a healthy story," says Larry Shopbell, vice president of the foundation board. "Creating hope for the kids is really important to do." The skate park will be another signal that White City, an area traditionally at-risk because of high levels of poverty, addiction and other problems, is turning around, says Guyer. "I think that this will continue the message that White City has already been sending," he says. "White City cares about their kids." As for the kids, they say they can't wait for a place to skate. Even in a region with three existing skate parks and a fourth underway, the White City site will be different. For one thing, it will be the only street-level park in the region, which makes it easier for less-experienced boarders to tackle. Or, as Brown puts it before making another leap into the parking lot: "A street park? Dude, that would be way awesomer." People interested in assisting the project can send donations to The White City Charitable Foundation, P.O. Box 2796, White City, OR, 97503. For more information, contact Livaudais-Mapes at 878-3165. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.