Point of view of a skater. His feet on the deck ready to skate the ramp.
Ending months of community debate, Rudy Karimi, District 14 Park Board member, and the staff at Dallas Parks and Recreation have decided to end the pursuit of a skatepark in Glencoe Park. Karimi announced on a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.
The $500,000 skatepark was to have been included in the allocation for Dallas Parks in the 2024 bond election. Karimi hopes to keep the $500,000 skatepark in the allocation but “moved to a park outside of council district 14 to be named later.”
Other skatepark initiatives at Westmoreland Park and Lakeland Hills Park remain in the bond allocation and have strong neighborhood support.
Along with several community meetings, Karimi said he and Max Sanchez of Councilman Paul Ridley’s office closely monitored the communication to determine levels of opposition and support. “90% of the communication received was in support of the skatepark, but 80% of the communication from the neighborhoods near Glencoe was against the idea, “said Karimi.
“While we may have failed in bringing a skate amenity to council district 14, we failed in the most daring and gutsy way — and that is the best way to fail if you ask me,” wrote Karimi in his Facebook post. “The bright side is we followed the process, we listened to our constituents, produced a tremendous amount of advocacy (RADvocacy) for skateparks, and we are still pushing for three of them in the 2024 bond, which is absolutely unprecedented in any previous city bond. That is still a heck of a lot to be proud of.”
Teenagers stand with their skateboards at a Nov. 29, 2022 neighborhood meeting to show support for the construction of a skate park. Photo by Emma Ruby
In an interview following the decision, Karimi noted that the parks in District 14 are neighborhood parks, ranging 8-16 acres in size. Skateparks are better suited for larger parks of which there are none in District 14 explained Karimi.
This perspective is mostly shared by Teri Ervin, a Greenland Hills resident who actively opposed the Glencoe location.
“I’m happy with the decision,” said Ervin. She said she hopes the skatepark gets built somewhere, but in a park with fewer amenities than Glencoe, a park she believes has plenty of amenities for park users already.
However, the process was not well-handled, added Ervin. City leadership did not initially look to interact with the nearby neighborhood associations when the idea of a Glencoe skatepark first bubbled up.
“I hope the City learned something,” said Ervin.
Dr. Clinton Haley, who lives with his family near Junius Heights, a long-time supporter of the skating community and founder of SkateparksforDallas.org, was disappointed in the outcome but not surprised given the neighborhood opposition.
The formula for a successful skatepark, according to Haley, revolves around accessibility and visibility and Glencoe Park fits the bill. “I’m grateful to Rudy Karimi and Dallas Parks and Recreation for trying to locate a skatepark in East Dallas or Central Dallas,” said Haley.
Haley did lament the difficulty of including young families and young professionals in these community conversations.
“How can we involve younger Central Dallas citizens in these debates since they will be the ones to use these amenities?,” asked Haley.
