As winter closes in around the Skate Ignatius skateboard park, its fans and friends are bracing for Phase II. The first phase produced $185,000 worth of rolling concrete for the community’s skateboard athletes. More than $200,000 in further improvements are on the drawing board.
That taste of success has brought complications. The skatepark has been criticized for attracting rough behavior in Taelman Park. It’s also brought attention to the park’s deteriorating tennis courts. But its supporters see a novel solution: Grow the appetite for recreation.
The movement has a name: The Recreation Coalition. After the tragic, alcohol-related deaths of several young people in 2003 and 2004, community members brainstormed ways to provide more wholesome activities for the area’s youth. St. Ignatius resident Kristie Nerby volunteered to take on the skatepark idea.
“We identified a lot of problems, but not a lot of answers,” Nerby said. “I said I can’t do anything valleywide, but I could do something locally.”
She forged cooperation from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, the St. Ignatius school system and its city government to get the project started. Area students were vigorous fundraisers in the initial effort to pay for their new park. They brought in thousands of dollars through grant applications and direct appeals to area residents. Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament came through with a $10,000 donation. Then, last April, an anonymous donor offered a $100,000 matching grant that made Phase I a reality.
It’s been a hit with St. Ignatius’ growing skateboarding crowd, who faced tough times before its construction.
“We were the ones always getting kicked out of town,” St. Ignatius High School junior Bobby Jensen said of his skating friends. “If you got caught, it was a $300 criminal mischief fine and they’d take your skateboard away.”
That hassle has faded. In the past year, Taelman Park’s skateboard area has attracted throngs of riders, including many who travel miles out of their vacation routes to give it a try.
“It gets a ton of use,” said classmate Josh Bowers. “Lots of little kids use it, and people come from all around to try it out. It does get crowded sometimes.”
That crowding has some unexpected benefits. Fellow skater Matt Pierre said the park initially attracted a great deal of graffiti. But its users provided protection.
“We went and washed it off, and it stopped after that,” Pierre said.
That experience spawned an idea: Rather than cut down the problems, why not increase the attractions?
Johnson and Nerby hope more features would produce more safety. A drinking fountain might deter the plastic bottle litter. So would more trash cans. (Johnson has already contributed one of her own, along with a chain to keep it in the park.)
And as the fundraising effort for the skatepark’s second phase gets under way, residents are wondering how to use its presence to help those too young or old for board-rolling.
So in addition to another 7,000 square feet of skating space, there are proposals for turning those tennis courts into a racquet/basketball surface, building a little kids’ playground and circling the whole thing with a jogging path.
Adding a playground would not only entertain young children, it would attract their parents. And more adult presence in the park would deter vandalism and related trouble. So would some pavilions that could be used for picnics, weddings and similar gatherings. With the park located alongside the famous St. Ignatius Mission, more all-ages attractions should make the area more and more welcoming.
“It’s a pretty lofty goal,” Johnson admitted. “And maintenance is a huge factor in all this. But we’re making progress.”
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)