City budget-crunch casualty: Delridge Skatepark on hold

| Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

We mentioned here yesterday that a big cut in city “skatepark implementation” money was among the latest City Council budget actions — and that we would seek more specifics on what that meant for the Delridge Skatepark project, which blossomed to life last summer (WSB coverage here), after months of controversy about the possibility of locating a skatepark by Myrtle Reservoir. Here’s what we have learned today, after Brian Hawksford from the office of City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (who chairs the Parks Committee) helped us seek out clarification – and the news isn’t good for skatepark supporters: The official word is that Delridge Skatepark construction “has been postponed/deferred” because of the budget cut (which involves the city’s reduced receipts of “real estate excise tax,” aka REET). The final budget vote is next Monday; West Seattle-based skating advocate Matt Johnston has posted about this at SeattleSkateparks.org and is urging messages of support (his post has e-mail address links).

Denny November 18, 2008 (3:02 pm)

Too bad we just passed a Parks Levy? When is Parks going to step up and fulfill plans and commitments it has made for young people (and all) who skate in West Seattle?
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I’m not a skater (old, no balance), but I am an avid supporter of our youth having opportunities to engage in healthy active lives.
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Recently I was at Lower Woodland for a soccer game and walked over to the skate park, packed with a wide range of yong people who are being respectful, exercising, having fun. Our kids & teens in West Seattle deserve that opportunity, and Parks keeps missing the mark.

toddinwestwood November 18, 2008 (4:48 pm)

yeah, too bad we spent all that money on building one of the world’s richest man his own trolly car line (SLUT). How much was that? 80 million dollars. Our Mayor and city council sucks.

toddinwestwood November 18, 2008 (4:51 pm)

Sorry, $50.5 million.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332081_slut18.html

Nants November 19, 2008 (9:37 am)

I voted for the Parks levy largely because of the Delridge skate park. I would hate to think I’d begrudge the projects the levy will fund in light of the Delridge skate park cancellation (let’s not kid ourselves), but I’m hard pressed to feel happy about it.

dave November 19, 2008 (12:30 pm)

While the Parks Levy that recently passed did include money for 4 skateparks the one that was proposed for Delridge was not among them. The only skate feature in West Seattle funded under the Levy would be the Roxhill Skatespot ($600K) The money in the Levy for Delridge is for resurfacing the playfield ($3.2M).