Kelly Street Skate Park Improvements: Seeking PYRAMID Donations!

Dear Coastside Skaters,

Here’s the story of why we need money to build a pyramid and fix up the Kelly Street-Cunha Skate park.

The Kelly Street skatepark was built in the mid-90’s with the spirited efforts of Colleen Granahan and the funding of the Boys and Girls Club. The ramps were fabricated by Ramptech. I don’t know how much the whole park cost back then, but to replace just the pyramid today would cost $20k.

Some 15 years later, in the summer of 2008, the City of Half Moon Bay had to remove some elements, including the pyramid, due to natural wear and tear, but they patched the half-pipe, and it still functions today (although we should start to save for a complete resurfacing). $18k was spent at that time.

The park began to be used less and less. Garbage began to collect. Helmets were a constant issue for the police.

By early 2009 several local people interested in fixing up the park began to gather around the name “Skate the Coast.” A few weekends were spent raking up garbage and taming hip-high weeds. Silvestre DeLeon has kept the park mowed and has taken the garbage to the dump for the last six months. Allied Waste should soon be resuming their responsibility of the garbage. Sunrise Painting painted the ramps to make them look better and slow the natural rot of wood. Helmets have been provided by Bikeworks/Kelly Street Skate. Several local skaters (raised as kids on this park when it was new!) have come back to coach the younger generation in the natural course of their own skating. Shawn Rhodes of Nor-Cal has started a skate team in Pacifica, CORE has a skate team in Santa Cruz. The HMB Surf Club has had huge success creating a parent-led group that demands high academic standards of its extreme athletes … our little park could be a jewel of a street park, and a positive culture for kids, with a little money, time and love.

It all starts with the pyramid (flat-top, 3 ‘ high, 16’ x 20’ perimeter; major launch element). I know plywood and 2x4s don’t cost $20k. I watch “Built to Shred”. I built cabinets from Time-Life books. I thought we could build a pyramid ourselves for a couple grand.

Well, first I had to get permission from the city and school and Boys and Girls Club to even think about it. Then, I had to find an architectural engineer (Ty Drake) to draw up plans. At this point, I’m thinking they haven’t seen “Built to Shred” ;-) Now I needed a permit. No contractor would consider the potential liability, but one of them suggested I take out a permit as a homeowner and that has worked. All that took a year.

Now, we need money. We need:

$3,000 to build a workable pyramid with a plywood sheathing and metal tranny.

+ add another $3,200 and we can sheath it Skatelite.

= $6,200 total

To collect money you usually need to set up non-profit status. But, I don’t want the kids to wait any longer, soooo….

I have set up a separate bank account in my name so I can START COLLECTING MONEY NOW. I will copy every check and keep Quicken records of income and expenses to build this pyramid. I’m planning on building the pyramid after the first of the year. I will put up the money for the plywood-sheathed version of the pyramid and if donations come pouring in and I am paid back, and if there is enough for the Skatelite, then I will order the Skatelite.. I can’t wait to see the kids launching in JANUARY, even if it is just plywood. If the Skatelite donations come in later months, we will replace the plywood with Skatelite when we have the money. Should there be any extra money, it will go to resurfacing the existing ramps, especially the half pipe - the next fundraising campaign. BTW Skatelite costs $178/sheet. We also have a team in place to build more elements, if you throw more money at us! Note, the City of HMB and the Boys and Girls Club are not affiliated with the collection and expenditure of this money.

Make checks payable to Michelle Dragony.

Write “Pyramid” or “Skate the Coast” in the memo section.

You can leave your check at BikeWorks/Kelly Street Skate,

or mail to P.O. Box 608, HMB, CA 94019.

Thanks,

Michelle Dragony,

Skate the Coast

December 24, 2009

P.S. Yes, we are also the people who would like to build a 15,000-foot skatepark on the mid-coast somewhere, but let’s see if we can build a pyramid, first!

Michelle Dragony can be reached at mdragony@comcast.net Let us know what you think.