Taking flight: Menlo Park launches new skate park Taking flight: Menlo Park launches new skate park (July 06, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

As kids in helmets and elbow pads careen all over Menlo Park's new skate park at the June 28 grand opening, Christian Dean savors the view with the satisfaction of a job well done.

"Everyone seems to be enjoying it," he says solemnly.

The 12-year-old East Palo Alto resident has reason to be proud. He was one of the youthful consultants serving on a committee that helped design the 15,000-square-foot concrete landscape of ramps, railings and bowls.

Now, after years of planning, the facility has opened as part of a $3.8 million renovation of Burgess Park. And you don't have to be a teen or a tween to jump right in.

"I'll go anywhere for skateboarding," says 43-year-old Ron Isa of Santa Clara, taking a break from rolling through the sunny afternoon. He praises the layout of the new park, saying, "It has a nice deep bowl."

In fact, there are three concrete bowls for skateboarders to whiz through: the deepest stretches down 8 feet, looking like an empty, rotund swimming pool. The others are 6 and 3 feet deep. At the opposite end of the park, the features are gentler for beginners, with tamer slopes and ledges.

Skateboarders and in-line skaters have a number of skate parks in the area to choose from, including facilities in Redwood City, Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Menlo Park's, though, boasts the freshness of something new.

Strapping on elbow pads after lending them to a friend at the grand opening, 13-year-old Redwood City resident Ilana Finer pronounces the new park "nice."

"It's really smooth," she adds. "No cracks, no rocks."

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