WSB: “Highpoint skatepark could come soon”

The West Seattle Blog posted a follow-up to the Myrtle skatepark debacle, which included a response from Parks Superintendent Timothy Gallagher.

Nothing really new or mind blowing here,  except for perhaps the insinuation that a skatepark at High Point would for some reason be fast-tracked.  The notion that any skatepark project, or any project in Seattle for that matter, would materialize “soon” is frankly laughable.

A few of us will be walking through the site with Parks Staff next week, as well as some other West Seattle sites, to discuss options and possibilities.  This advocate prefers a network of smaller skateparks scattered across multiple West Seattle neighborhoods to one big central one, but I wouldn’t argue against a 15K sq/ft skatepark at High Point.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the High Point community will pull a Myrtle and bring torches to the meetings.  It will also be interesting to see if all those who opposed the the skatepark at Myrtle, but said they supported a skatepark at High Point, will actually come out and show their support at the meetings.

Replacing the last open green space at High Point with a skatepark sounds like a recipe for trouble to me.  I hope the Parks Department plans on supporting skaters through outreach and education instead of abandoning us like they have almost every other time some NIMBY threatens to sue.