Dude, Where is Our Park?
Friday, Jul 17, 2009 | Updated 7:46 AM PDT
North County Times/Bill Wechter
Marty Laracy, 17, skates at the Penasquitos Skatepark on Thursday. The park recently reopened after being closed five months for repairs.
The Rancho Penasquitos Skatepark has reopened to mixed reviews, with some users wondering where the rest of their park went, the North County Times reported.
"It's still fun, but basically, they took out half the park," said Rancho Penasquitos resident Marty Laracy, 17. "But we improvise."
The $2.1 million skatepark at Carmel Mountain Road and Freeport Road was closed for five months as San Diego city officials tried to figure out why wooden structures at the 4-year-old facility were falling apart. The park reopened June 30 after workers removed the dilapidated wooden ramps, half-pipes and other structures.
Clay Bingham, deputy director of the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department, said the city has plans to replace the structures, the paper reported. For now, skaters still can speed down the remaining concrete slopes, but there's only wide open space waiting for them at the bottom instead of the banks and ramps they used to ride up.
