Document text
Skateboard park meets its objective photo by Drew Fleming Kids are staying off public, private property By Jessica Smith The city built it and the kids on skateboards keep coming. The skateboarders who used to roll along Medford�s streets have abandoned their favorite downtown hangouts for a cement park just a few miles away, and local officials and business owners say the city is better for it. "Frankly, I was scared out of my wits about these kids who were skating in the parking structure," says Anne Duncan, owner of Hot Pots on Main Street. "I was afraid they were going to kill themselves." The railings, stairs and curves in Medford�s only parking garage seemed to be an irresistible challenge for skateboarders, Duncan and others say. But the parking structure, county justice building, YMCA parking lot � all once heavily trolled by kids on boards with wheels � are now quiet. "We would see them all the time down here around the justice building and the fountain," says Jackson County sheriff�s Lt. Dewey Patten. "But they�ve all gone away." In May, the city opened a 24,000-square-foot skating mecca in Bear Creek Park. For years, local youths and city leaders worked to design the park, the largest in Southern Oregon. The idea was to get skateboarders out of the commercial district, where complaints about trespassing and prohibited skating were common. "The skaters haven�t disappeared, they�ve just all gone to one place," says Medford police Sgt. Jerry Burchfiel. "As far as the problems downtown go, it�s made a huge difference." Although police couldn�t provide statistics to show whether complaints against skateboarders have lessened since the skate park�s opening, Burchfiel says patrol officers have noticed a significant drop. "We�re just not hearing about them anymore," he says. "We�re not getting the calls about skateboarders downtown." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA