Skate park nears end

Skaters and their supporters are getting more concerned as the Huntington Beach Skate Park nears its final days. By coincidence, Saturday was Go Skateboarding Day, an annual celebration of the lifestyle that several local vendors used to promote the sport and support the lifestyle.

City community service officials are still waiting on notice of a final date for the park from the Huntington Beach Union High School District, but officials said its days were numbered. While a vote last week to cancel the lease of a racquetball facility in nearby Worthy Park gave skaters hope it might be a place for a new park, the city is a long way from making any concrete decisions and has not voted to move forward.

When it happens, the lack of a park is going to cause problems fast, said resident Peter Townend, whose son Tosh Townend has been a professional skateboarder since age 11.

“What’s changed a lot in the last 10 years is there’s a whole culture of young skateboarding kids who need a place to go,” he said. “Once the skate park in front of the high school disappears, where are they going to go? They’re going to have some issues socially.”

In addition to local skaters, companies such as SPUN Skateboards and Hurley Inc. are getting involved in an effort to build a new park, which they kicked off at a fundraiser Saturday in Costa Mesa.