By Tonya Sprague

About seven years ago, I was one of the few citizens of Cleveland, TN that campaigned very hard for a skate park for our local skateboarding community. I went before Mayor Tom Rowland and the rest of the Cleveland City Council several times to inform them of the many benefits a skate park would bring to Cleveland. I gathered hundreds of signatures for petitions and wrote letters to the newspapers. My efforts had all types of media coverage. Unfortunately, my hard work and dedication to convince the city of Cleveland that a skate park would be a benefit to the city and not a waste of taxpayers money, was unsuccessful. The request was denied. Not once, but several times. According to the city manager at the time, there was a lack of funds in the budget to finance a skate park project.

Then, there was the whole issue of safety and what, if any, liability the city would have if someone were hurt on a city owned skate park. After deciding to defer the decision for a year or more, the project was put on hold. Over time, as more parks were built, the fear of the unknown became less and less of an issue. The Tennessee Municipal League insurance determined that the majority of cities with skateboarding parks really didn't have as much of a problem with injury liabilities as originally thought. Many skaters will tell you that they wear their injuries and battle scars as badges of honor.

I am a firm believer that skateboarding is not a crime and that it should never be treated as one, however, Cleveland's local law enforcement doesn't see it that way. It is illegal to skate just about everywhere and if a skater "gets caught" they could be ticketed $141, which includes a $50 fine and $91 in court costs. I suppose the money collected from these fines could go towards making repairs to the city's sidewalks, benches, stairs and railings. Yet another reason a skate park would assist in eliminating the majority of the skateboarding issues.

Many areas have been looked at as possibilities for a skate park location, but for one reason or another, each one was passed over, not good enough, or

unusable for this type of facility. Much to my surprise, after covering my first Cleveland City Council meeting, where I was actually attending as a member of the media instead of as a citizen, on the agenda for the week of January 14, 2008 was an update from the Parks and Recreation Department director Patti Petitt, in which she announced the following, "After about 3 years of searching and disappointment for a location for a skate park in Cleveland, the Cleveland City Parks and Recreation has finally decided to go back to the original site that Mayor Tom Rowland wanted in Tinsley Park. Storm water engineer, Johnathan Jobe went out and measured and determined that the best location for the skate park would be right outside where the gravel trail goes around by the little ball field. It will fit in that area right there and actually there is room to expand if we need to. And with your blessing Mr. Mayor we can proceed on with this project." To which Mayor Rowland replied, "consider yourself blessed. This is something that we've worked on a long time. There is quite a bit of interest and this might alleviate some of the skateboarders downtown as well."

There is $35,000 in the city's budget for the skate park. It will be unmanned and open to the public. Skaters would however, be required to wear helmets. Back in the summer when a skateboarding demonstration came to Cleveland, the average cost for the set up that they had was around $20,000 to $25,000. According to Patti Petitt, Cleveland Parks and Recreation will get together with a purchasing agent to see what process Smyrna, TN  went through to get their new park up and running. Once the park is open, the city of Cleveland would be able to add more money to their budget for skate park improvements if any are needed. The important thing now is that the actual location has finally been selected and that in the near future, hopefully by this summer, the skateboarding enthusiasts in Cleveland, TN will finally have a place to call their own.
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