Skate park could close

He doesn’t want to, but if it leads to a lesson taught, City of Odessa Parks Director Steve Patton will close the new Ruben Pier Memorial Skate Park at Sherwood Park.

“I’ll put up a temporary fence, and it’ll be closed,” Patton said.

The threat comes just six days after the skate park opened.

A police report indicates six of the concrete fixtures at the facility were vandalized with graffiti. Patton said it cost the city an estimated $1,800 to remove the markings.

“We have to keep this place looking good,” Patton said. “I expect the users to self-monitor.”

There also have already been complaints of skateboarders leaving trash at the site that later blows throughout the park, into the streets and the neighboring yards of homeowners.

Patton said if the problems continue, then skating tricks and maneuvers will come to a halt.

“It’s terribly disappointing,” Patton said. “It’s truly unfair everybody has to be punished.”

Ruben Pier Memorial Skate Park opened the morning of Halloween and is named for then-16-year-old Ruben Pier who was killed after he was hit by a car while skateboarding at the corner of 16th Street and Golder Avenue.