Don’t skate out of park issue

Costa Mesa’s newest council member, Mike Scheafer, is proving to be

anything but a wallflower.

Scheafer has raised the specter of a fireworks-free Costa Mesa,

even though he’s a member of the Lions Club, one of the groups that

raises money by selling the safe-and-sane variety of fireworks.

And he is pushing hard for a resolution to one of the city’s most

ridiculous, lingering issues: construction of a skate park.

Once again, here are the facts upon which this debate should begin

and end: The Newport-Mesa community needs a skate park (last year,

the Costa Mesa parks commission called a skate park the No. 1

recreational need in the city). A lot of kids skateboard. It isn’t a

crime (and can be even less of a nuisance if there’s a place for

skaters to go). Other cities -- Huntington Beach and Laguna Hills in

the immediate area -- have successful parks.

Those facts have yet to produce a park, however. Now Scheafer, who

has long had a hand in the decade-long debate, has set Labor Day as a

deadline for having a site for the park chosen. A firm timetable is a

step toward a resolution, and Scheafer deserves applause for

establishing it.

TeWinkle Memorial Park, where there is plenty of room, seems the

most logical choice at this point, as previous sites -- Charle

Street, Davis Elementary and Costa Mesa High -- have all been ruled

out. The trouble is, skateboarders aren’t the only ones who want the

piece of land east of Junipero Drive along Arlington Avenue. Members

of the Costa Mesa Bark Park Foundation say adding that land to the

Bark Park would allow them to rotate areas so grass would have time

to recover from use.

However, if it comes down to a choice between our children and our

dogs, we have to side with our children. They deserve a skate park

more than Costa Mesa’s dogs deserve more running room.

Bark Park officials do make a good point when they worry about

skateboarders frightening nearby dogs. But that concern is one that

can be dealt with as construction and planning for the park gets

underway.

There is no reason for Newport-Mesa to wait any longer on building

a skate park.

Scheafer should hold fast to his Labor Day deadline and end the

delay. Others involved in the debate need to follow him.