Nipomo’s $3-million and many-years-in-the-making skate park is two months away from completion, but some skaters just can’t wait.
The SLO County Parks and Recreation Department had to send out a warning to the public before Christmas because skateboard tracks are already appearing in the bottom of the recently poured skate bowls.
“Waiting just the few more weeks for the park to open will mean many more years of good condition of the bowls for many skaters to come for many years,” the warning stated. “Continuing to skate on them before they are grouted will mean skaters will have to wait longer for the site to open and may be unhappy with the bowl conditions in just a short time after the park opens, all because they couldn’t wait just a few more weeks.”
See, the concrete needs to cure before your little wheels tear it up. And then, it will need grout, which will also take time to cure. So just hang tight—keep skating in those local parking lots, dealing with rocks, pebbles, cars, and people.
Hey, Nipomo skaters: You’ve waited your whole life for your town to get a skate park. What’s a few more weeks to make sure it sticks around for longer? We all know that the county won’t likely be keeping up with the maintenance of the park. And if it all starts to fall apart, you could be waiting the rest of your life to see it get fixed.
So chill out!
It sucks, but it will also be worth it in the long run.
Promise.
You know what else will be worth it in the long run? Hopefully the decisions that the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors made in 2022. These include denying the ExxonMobil plan to truck oil along Highways 101 and 166 and amending county cannabis regulations to generate more tax revenue by encouraging cannabis processing facilities to open.
Perhaps as one legacy industry dies out—and we all know that’s exactly what’s happening with oil—another will continue taking root (see what I did there?).
Meanwhile, the long run is looking a little daunting on some fronts.
County department heads, city officials, law enforcement, and elected folks finally pulled together to talk about the local opioid crisis. The county was on track in 2022 to beat the record it set in 2021 for opioid-related overdose deaths, 133. And while the members of Project Opioid have managed to chat once a month and get naloxone into more locations across the county, its work is unfunded and has no full-time staff dedicated to it.
As I mentioned last week, the homelessness crisis is in full swing and it’s about time North County (ahem, Santa Maria) got its act together to try and actually come up with some manageable solutions. Rather than rebelling against projects meant to help—such as the Motel 6 housing conversion proposed earlier this year—it’s time to work together to provide some services. I guess we’ll see if the county and the city of Santa Maria can manage to collaborate on the temporary shelter proposed for an empty lot next to the Betteravia Government Center.
Neither the opioid crisis nor the homelessness crisis are issues where patience is a virtue. Save that for the Nipomo skate park.
The Canary is wheeling around aimlessly. Send directions to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2022 – Jan 5, 2023.