July 6-8, a group of young people from around Southern California including Long Beach gathered in San Diego for an intense 3-day Boot Camp in Journalism and Media. With the guidance of adult mentors, the youth produced Blogs, Radio and Video reports on one of three themes: School Discipline, School Meals, and Neighborhood. This is one of those reports.
Why City Heights Needs a Skatepark
By Arturo Martinez, Phuc Nguyen
and Jocelyn Ramirez
[The above video was produced, filmed and edited by participants in a youth media bootcamp hosted by The California Endowment and Media Arts Center San Diego over the weekend]
City Heights faces many problems, and one of those is not having enough safe spaces for the teens to convene. Ten years ago, community activists began to join forces to build a new skatepark. Ten years later the struggle continues.
“I think that for kids in City Heights, there are places for them to hang out but it’s really frowned upon,” said Erin Timony of the Media Arts Center San Diego. “Kids can’t really just hang out around storefronts and hang out in the streets, so I think it would be great if they had a better place to be after school.”
“I think the benefits would be for the teens and youth in this area to be more active, to come out more and to be a part of this community,” said Susan Nguyen of the Little Saigon Foundation.
Many local organizations have paid attention. They believe that if skateparks exist elsewhere, they should exist here, too.
“If the park is well designed, and it allows access for adults, for kids, for everyone to be there, there shouldn’t be any draw back,” said Juan Antonio Ramirez of WalkSanDiego.