Press Telegram: Construction on Silverado Skatepark upgrades begin this week.
Around $160,000 in renovations at West Long Beach’s only skatepark, located at Silverado Park, were set to begin this week — after a two-year wait.
Work on upgrading the Silverado Skatepark got underway in 2021, when former Seventh District Councilmember and longtime skate advocate Mike Donelon launched a campaign with his nonprofit, the ASK (Action Sports Kids) Foundation, to raise money for the project. The Silverado Skatepark was originally established in the early 2000s and was composed of elements taken from from other existing city skate parks, Donelon said in a recent interview — and because those elements were portable, they wore out quickly.
“We have a really good relationship with all the kids that skate all over town, but especially on the west side,” Donelon said. “It was mainly just complaints from the kids that West Long Beach deserves better.” Those concerns from the community inspired Donelon to take the project’s fate into his own hands. “I said the city probably would not pay for it — and if they would, it would take a long time to get it done,” Donelon said. “So I got all the kids together, and I said let’s design it and let’s get out there and raise money to do it.”
And that’s exactly what they did. Corey Keen, president of the ASK Foundation’s Board of Directors and founder of Keen Ramps — alongside skate park construction firm Spohn Ranch — laid out a preliminary design for the Silverado Skatepark revitalization. The ASK Foundation then held three rounds of meetings at the skate park with the kids who use it to get their input. The group also put the plans on social media and responded to more than 150 comments from skaters online, Donelon said.
“So that was how the final design was done,” Donelon said. “And then we just started going out there and knocking on doors.” Eventually, the ASK Foundation secured a $15,000 grant from the The Skatepark Project — legendary pro skater Tony Hawk’s nonprofit. Shortly after, the group also received a $5,000 community grant from the Port of Long Beach and another $5,000 from proceeds generated during the Big Bang on the Bay fireworks show. But the biggest donation — the one that’s helped fully fund the project and move it into the construction phase — came in late November from a digital company called Nouns.
Nouns is a digital art project, according to an ASK Foundation press release, which auctions off an original artwork daily. The proceeds from those auctions are sent a digital treasury, according to the company’s website, and the community votes on how the funds are spent. “From whimsical endeavors like naming a frog, to ambitious projects like constructing a giant float for the Rose Parade,” the Nouns website says, “Nouns funds projects of all sizes and domains.” ASK Foundation and Nouns were introduced to each other through The Skatepark Project, the release said. Nouns and TSP designed and donated 300 skateboards to underserved communities in 2022, an effort for which the ASK Foundation held a giveaway event. ASK Foundation submitted their project proposal for funding on Nouns’ site, where it won a majority of votes from users; the foundation received its requested $133,250 to complete the remainder of its funding goal.
“Now it’s 100% funded,” Donelon said. “We just thought it would be really cool to give back, and thanks to the people that supported the kids.” Security fences went up around the 5,000 square-foot Silverado Skatepark last week, Donelon said in a Friday, Dec. 1, interview, with construction slated to begin this week. The park is set to be upgraded with longer-lasting concrete elements, alongside a new grind rail and artwork created by local artist Van Eggers, the release said. “What was once an unutilized sport court has organically become the skating hot spot on the west side of Long Beach,” Keen said in the release. “With the redesign process being guided by input from the local skaters, the level of pride and ownership for the park will undoubtedly be that much stronger.”
Construction on the Silverado Skatepark should finish in mid-January, Donelon said, and ASK Foundation is planning a grand reopening celebration with Nouns and The Skatepark Project sometime in February. ASK is now raising money to help pay for that celebration, Donelon said. “We want to have a really big grand opening ceremony,” he said. “We will have the money in our account to pay for the event — but the more we can get for that is the more we have for the kids for the rest of the years.”
Read the full article at https://www.presstelegram.com/2023/12/04/construction-on-silverado-skatepark-upgrades-begin-this-week/