Vista Skaters Beg for a New Park

A room full of young skaters, their parents, and other supporters of building a skate park in Vista appeared at the city council meeting on May 10.

“It is not just a skate park,” said parent and skate-park advocate Pat Womack. “It will actually be an attraction or focal point for the city; you’ll have plenty of visitors…our community deserves it. These kids have been fighting for it.”

Lifetime Vista resident Andres Hernandez said, “Ever since I’ve been skating, I’ve been doing better in school, got my grades up. Now that we don’t have a skate park, it’s harder for us to skate in the streets. We don’t have a lot of spots.”

According to another young skater, Alfonso Diaz, he has been skating on the streets since the park was closed three years ago.

“Ever since then, I’ve been skating on the streets and I’ve been getting harassed by the cops, getting tickets,” said Diaz. He also stated that the addition of a skate park in Vista would bring help local business and help draw visitors from nearby cities, similar to the effect of the skate parks in San Marcos and Oceanside.

Members of the skating community expressed their awareness that the city may lack funding to build a skate park. They said they would apply for grants and have fundraisers if the city provides them with assistance in locating city-owned property on which to build the park.