Skatepark fills community need

For the most part, skateboarders feel a lot like the late comic Rodney Dangerfield, and for the same reason because they "don't get no respect." But the City of Odessa is changing that perception.

Work is scheduled to begin any day now on a facility at Sherwood Park where the wheeled daredevils can fly, and crash, to their heart's delight. And that, it should be noted, is a good thing.

Now community soreheads (and surely there are more here than in the much smaller town of Stanton) probably are wondering, and complaining, about the use of taxpayer resources to accommodate a relatively small, and young, segment of the population.

Well, two justifications leap to mind immediately - to relieve nuisance and to promote safety.

If they don't have a facility designed for their chosen pastime, skateboarders are going to find places where they can enjoy their sport. All too often, those places are on public sidewalks and private parking lots where others are inconvenienced. And because of the nature of the activity, a certain amount of liability is involved.

And because skateboarders are chance-takers, we've seen serious injuries and even fatalities that resulted on public streets.

So it's a public service to finally have a skatepark.

Additionally, it appears that officials have been able to get a lot of bang for their buck in the local design. City council members were told that the $350,000 facility at Sherwood is on par with a $1.5 million park planned for Austin.

Better yet, some private funding has been obtained from both the Skate Park Development Committee and Lions Club donations.

It also was wise that parks and recreation officials had two workshops to get input from skaters to make sure the design would fit needs.

Now we can only hope that when the skatepark is finished sometime later this summer, it proves to be a haven for those who habitually have felt disenfranchised.