{"id":22868,"date":"2025-04-02T21:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T03:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-plans-to-resurface-skate-park-implement-safety-measures\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:19:03","slug":"cortez-plans-to-resurface-skate-park-implement-safety-measures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-plans-to-resurface-skate-park-implement-safety-measures\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez plans to resurface skate park, implement safety measures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Cortez skate park, located near the Recreation Center off Montezuma Avenue, is set to be repaved by the end of summer 2025. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old skate park downtown Cortez will be resurfaced by the end of summer, at the latest.<\/p>\n

The project has been a few years in the making, and something that those who use it have long wanted to see.<\/p>\n

The only reason it hasn\u2019t been fixed sooner is because contractors in recent years have either not had the capacity or expertise to repave the park, said City Director of Parks and Recreation Creighton Wright.<\/p>\n

But this year, they\u2019re set to complete the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll put out request for bids in next few weeks,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

Resurfacing will target and fix the park\u2019s many cracks and uneven surfaces, It\u2019ll also fix a slope of grass and mud that funnels debris into the bowl, said Wright.<\/p>\n

The completion timeline really depends on the contractor; the work could be done as early as late spring. At the latest, it\u2019ll be done by the end of summer.<\/p>\n

\"A
A roller skater from Dolores who \u201cactively avoids the Cortez skate park\u201d said she avoids it because she almost gets injured each time she\u2019s there because of the cracked pavement. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Cortez skate park hasn\u2019t been resurfaced in the 20 years it\u2019s been around. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Neco
Neco Escoe, a skateboarder who grew up in Cortez, said, \u201cI\u2019ve watched it (the skate park) for the last 20 years turn into an unskateable place.\u201d (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Wright said there\u2019s never been any significant work on the skate park to preserve or renovate it in the two decades it\u2019s been around, and a series of community members who frequent the park voiced safety concerns stemming from its lack of maintenance at the Cortez City Council meeting on Tuesday evening, March 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard from a lot of young people in the community voice feelings of unsafety at the outdoor skate park,\u201d said Abbie Herring, a local educator that volunteers at the Beech Street Skate Park, which is indoors at in the warehouse space at Good Sam\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Those feelings of unsafety come from its physical state of disrepair, in addition to a lack of lighting.<\/p>\n

Wright said that just last year, the city put in two additional lights at the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a mechanism to add any more lights,\u201d Wright said. \u201cBased on electric capacity, we can\u2019t add much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an effort to address some of these safety concerns, though, Wright said they\u2019re looking to install cameras at the park.<\/p>\n

Plus, by early to midsummer, he plans to have hired a park ranger to resolve low-level problems at the parks. The ranger will also have a positive presence at the skate park \u201cto discourage the negative element from coming around,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

At the City Council meeting, Herring underscored the importance of the park, as \u201cthere are so few spaces left for youth to just exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost everywhere youth hang out costs money, or you have to be involved in a program\u201d said Herring.<\/p>\n

The skate park \u201cis one of the last spaces in town\u201d where kids can play and connect for free, a sentiment that Neco Escoe, who grew up using the skate park in Cortez and now runs a skating program through the School Community Youth Collaborative, echoed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a community have an obligation to make it a safer space,\u201d said Escoe.<\/p>\n

A mother and local educator who volunteers at the indoor skate park wrapped up public comment, and highlighted the place of connection that a skate park is.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome witness youth play and connect,\u201d she said, inviting council and those present to the Beech Street Skate Park. \u201cIt\u2019s just a really special thing, and it transcends barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings a bit of hope to me each week,\u201d she went on. \u201cIf we can make wider circles of that, not just at our skate park but in our streets, I think that\u2019s a reputation we\u2019d all like\u201d to have in our city.<\/p>\n

In addition to the repaving work and safety measures at the skate park, Wright said the city plans to bring back a skate program it had once a week in collaboration with the School Community Youth Collaborative at the outdoor skate park.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we\u2019ll even expand it,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

The story was corrected on April 3 at 9:24 a.m. to reflect the targeted resurfacing of problem areas in the skate park; it is not a complete re-pavement project. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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