Milo Acosta may have a career in politics in about 15 or 20 years. He approached the Pacific Grove City Council podium on Wednesday, March 20, to deliver a polite and clear message with an added edge of humor. “I would like to point this out,” he said, holding up a homemade poster that read, “One Skatepark Please (and thank you).” He was one of the eight kids who made comments that night in support of a skatepark. Acosta noted they cared enough to stay at a city council meeting past 8pm on a school night.
A temporary skatepark concept was outlined by Public Works Director Daniel Gho. The idea, following a directive from the City Council to the P.G. Recreation Board in November, was to repurpose an employee parking lot located on 16th Avenue between the P.G. Fire Department and Youth Center into a smooth surface with wooden ramps. It would be in place for three to six months as a trial period.
However, the Council’s discussion foreshadowed disappointment – something supporters of the P.G. Skatepark Project have come to expect. City officials had already rejected three other prospective locations, and the intent of a temporary site would be to “result in a consensus as to where the skatepark should be ultimately located,” Gho wrote in a report to council.
Mayor Bill Peake along with councilmembers Luke Coletti, Nick Smith and Lori McDonnell, opposed the temporary proposal, saying the $132,896 preliminary quote – excluding maintenance and some additional costs – was not worth a non-permanent solution.
Audible boos were heard in the chamber after the 4-2 vote to nix the temporary skatepark, with Joe Ameilio and Chaps Poduri dissenting.
Alex White, one of the P.G. Skatepark Project leaders who first brought forward the idea with her two sons in 2022, is frustrated. “We listened to literally everything [the City Council] said,” White says, citing the list of requirements for the location of the latest proposal from the P.G. Parks and Recreation Commission: at least 100 feet from any residence, on an already-paved surface, one-tenth of the cost of the original skatepark proposal, close to resources like the youth center and temporary in nature for the purposes of gauging interest.
White admits it will probably take a new City Council with fresh faces to advance a skatepark. Hopefully for supporters of the project, that will be before the time that Acosta will be eligible to run for office.
(1) comment
I completely disagree with the Council's decision not to repurpose the city employee parking lot. Why should the city employees have their own parking lot in the first place? They are some of the highest paid people to work in PG and they are given preferential treatment over the other fine citizens who purchase parking permits so that they can park in the other public lots in the area. As an alternative, allow them to park in the rear of the fire station.except at times when the fire department needs the area for drills. This is the same type of perk that was decided in the court as to a promise to allow past council members to have free golf at the city golf course. The council sits at the pleasure of the citizens and should have the citizens desires ahead of employees.
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