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Alpine youth show support for skate park
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — A group of local teenagers sat
in on the latest Alpine Planning Group meeting, held Feb. 22, to
show their support for the construction of a skateboarding park
in town. Nearly a dozen youths, and a few parents were in
attendance to speak in favor of a park.
“This all came to me in a flash,” said APG member Chuck
Taylor, who brought the issue in front of the group. “I came out
of a restaurant a couple months ago and almost got into a head
on collision with a skateboarder. My first thought was, I was
mad, but my second thought was that when I was a kid they used
to get mad at scooters and pogo-sticks.”
Taylor argued that a skate park is a great way to keep
local skateboarders safe, citing the success of Kennedy Park in
El Cajon. According to Taylor, a skateboard park requires little
space, and almost no maintenance.
“We have no where to skate where we aren’t going to get
kicked out by the cops,” said Alpine skater Mark Carrol. “And
even the places that we do get kicked out of; aren’t very good
to skate at.”
No doubt residents have seen groups of teens on four wheels
grinding curbs at Carl’s Jr. or jumping garbage cans at the
community park.
“We need a skate park because there are more and more
skaters coming out every day, really young ones, more and more
kids are going to want to skate,” said Bryan Toscano to the APG
board. “That means more and more kids are going to be on the
roads looking for a place to skate around Alpine.”
Several mothers also weighed in supporting the
skateboard park.
“For me it’s the helmets that are the huge issue,” said
Laura Finn. “When they’re out on the streets, they aren’t being
forced to wear their helmets. At the skate park they would have
to wear all of the gear and helmet.”
In El Cajon, skaters are not permitted into the park
unless they have full protective gear.
The issue was sent to the Parks, Recreation and
Conservation Subcommittee, with a meeting scheduled for tonight,
March 8, at 5:30 p.m. at the community center. See next week’s
edition of The Alpine Sun for a report from that meeting.
Wright’s Field studies
Wright’s Field continues to be a hot topic in Alpine,
with both a park and school setting sights for the spot.
Environmental designations on the property have made it
unavailable for these purposes.
Planning group member Mark Price, however, has
questioned the environmental studies that have, or have not been
done on Wright’s Field. He argued that the most recent
Environmental Impact Report conducted was part of the golf
course project that, nearly 15 years ago, was planned for the
land.
He also argued that a county staffer simply walking the
field should not be a basis for environmental decisions. “Do we
want land determinations made in our community, by people just
going out there and walking the area instead of doing the proper
studies? Without having any of the real data.”
New group member Linda Richards followed up on her
comment from January’s meeting, about “literally hundreds of
pages of data about Wright’s Field — what’s out there, what’s
not.” She gave a presentation to APG members about some her
findings as she has researched Wright’s Field.
Reports included plants and animals that live in the
field; birds and insects that are often seen, or may only be
found on Wright’s Field; and thousand-year-old archeological
sites dating back to the early Native American residents. These
include reports from the San Diego Natural History Museum, the
county DPLU, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the
U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, the San Diego Audubon
Society.
“There are literally thousands of pages on this;
reports from professional people, people with doctorates, who
are highly educated in these fields,” Richards said.
According to her, there are also current ongoing
biological and archeological studies being done on Wright’s
Field. Price argued that none of the data presented constituted
studies done on the field, “none of these are studies, these are
letters of opinion, not real environmental studies.”
While none of the reports are official Environmental
Impact Reports, as per CEQA, they constitute a large collection
of educated opinions and determinations on Wright’s Field.
Despite these reports however, the group is still
pushing for county staff to conduct a formal environmental study
on the field. At it’s January meeting the board voted to ask
county to conduct an EIR, over the objections and denial already
made by San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob.
Jacob said that the county will not spend money for a
study of land it doesn’t own. The responsibility for the study
lies with the party that plans to develop the land, and Jacob
said that she will not use taxpayer dollars to fund it.
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