Skate Plaza
Community leaders in Westchester and Playa del Rey this week threw their support behind a collection of upgrades planned for Westchester Park, including a new skateboard plaza just off Manchester Avenue.
Of all the changes suggested for the recreation area that covers 22 acres at Manchester and Lincoln Boulevard - a redesigned entry, revamped children's play area and improved lighting for the tennis courts and parking areas, among others - the skate plaza seems to be generating the most buzz.
For one, the area lacks any such amenity. And the proposal has the support of The Berrics, a website dedicated to skateboarders, along with a philanthropic group affiliated with The Annenberg Foundation that has agreed to help partially fund it.
Representatives from the website and explore/Annenberg appeared at Tuesday night's meeting of the Neighborhood Council of Westchester-Playa, which voted unanimously in favor of the park improvements and skate plaza.
"This area needs it," said Tim Dowlin, production manager for The Berrics, which in addition to running its website operates a private skate park in downtown Los Angeles. "There's kind of some ledges (in Westchester Park) that are well-known skate spots."
Steve Berra, a co-founder of The Berrics, wants to build public skate parks across the country, starting with a site in Los Angeles, Dowlin said.
He was introduced to explore/Annenberg - whose mission, in part, is to "inspire lifelong learning" - through a friend, actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The organization said it signed on after reviewing statistics that pointed to lower crime rates in communities where skate parks have been constructed.
"They said that was totally the type of thing they were interested in and wanted to be involved in," Dowlin said. "The Annenbergs have a long history of all different types of philanthropy. They're interested in young people and the environment. ... We want this to be a `green' skate park."
In a statement, explore founder Charles Annenberg Weingarten said the group hopes the park "will be of great benefit to the at-risk youth in the community, and that it will provide a model for other cities pursuing similar goals."
Plans place the plaza at the current site of two outdoor basketball courts along Manchester, not far from the park's old gymnasium.
The courts, only one of which would be replaced at a site closer to Lincoln, can be a magnet for crime, including gang activity and drug and alcohol abuse, city officials and community leaders say.
"Those courts get a lot of out-of-area use and they have attracted certain gangs," said Craig Raines, a landscape architect with the city Department of Recreation and Parks.
Moving one court into a new spot "kind of cleans up that area," he said.
Community leaders seemed to favor the idea of housing the skate area along Manchester, not far from the park's old and new gymnasiums.
The plaza itself will not be staffed or supervised. And it won't be lighted at night - which was a concern for some neighborhood council members - but Raines suggested private donations could help to eventually pay for light fixtures.
Explore has pledged $125,000 for the plaza's construction, which is estimated to cost anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000. The remainder would be funded through fees the city charges to developers to pay for park projects, and perhaps other private donations, Raines said.
Before money can be spent, Westchester Park's planned face-lift will require approval from the city's recreation and parks commissioners. The relocation of the basketball court is expected to take place first, starting possibly in the later part of this month, Raines said.
City officials will have to determine how much money is available and how it will be divvied up among the remaining projects, he added.
Scott Carni, who serves as president of a local advisory board that oversees seven recreation areas including Westchester Park, told the council he sees the skate plaza as a good addition.
And he also said it has received the blessing of priests, principals and others used to seeing skaters where they shouldn't be.
"Really, what we're trying to do is give these kids a home," Carni said.
