The possibility of a skateboard park in La Jolla and signage required at Whaleview Point were vetted by La Jolla Parks and Beaches, Inc. at its Oct. 23 meeting.
Marnie Gavit and Linda Van Zandt presented to the parks board, suggesting the bike path across the street from La Jolla High starting behind Fire Station 13 at 809 Nautilus St., which runs through to Bird Rock, might be a viable site for a future skateboard park serving community youth.
A similar unsuccessful proposal was made by Gavit seven years ago. At that time, she had suggested a place might be found in redeveloping the La Jolla Rec Center site at 615 Prospect St. for a new skate park. Community park planners turned thumbs down to that proposal, noting La Jolla Rec Center is surrounded by historical buildings and residences and therefore would be inappropriate for the addition of a new skate park.
At least one La Jollan, Sally Miller, thinks the bike path is just as non-viable as the rec center would be for a skate park.
“But whose backyard will the noise be in?,” queried Miller following the LJPB meeting. “They’re still targeting, and trying to ‘privatize,’ the bike path. Many California skateboard parks have been closed. Why?”
Herself a skateboarder, Gavit has argued skateboarders deserve respect, as well as their own place for skateboarding that is “a safe place off the streets.”
LJPB chair Ann Dynes, during her president’s report, noted the city attorney has come out with a memo advocating that rec councils, like La Jolla’s, not be allowed to manage their own money.
Also in her report, Dynes noted that she has been told by authorities that ongoing improvements, part of the redevelopment of Whaleview Point along the La Jolla coastline, are “going to be required to have signs placed there.
“Our little stretch of coastline right now has no interpretive signs,” said Dynes, adding, “Signs are going to happen, whether we like it or not. We need to have a consensus on what signs are OK at Whaleview Point.”