Teens Kick, Push and Roll Toward Building Dream Skate Park

Teenagers taking the initiative is the stuff parents' dreams are made of, and Manassas Park apparently has it in spades.

A group of 20 to 25 Manassas Park teens with the help of staff, have organized themselves into a committee to get a skate park built in

The city did at one point have a modular skate park, but it was disassembled for the construction of the Manassas Park Community Center.

The city's department of parks and recreation still owns the components of the skate park, but some additional padding will need to be purchased before it could be assembled, Catherine Morretta, director of parks and recreation said Wednesday during a Manassas Park Skate Park Committee meeting. 

For the most part, the teens want to focus on building a brand new, signature facility that they can help design, Morretta said.

For that to happen money is needed, she said. The teens who want the skate park are charged with the task of raising the money themselves.

City staff or, the "adults" are simply there to support and help the teens get organized. 

"It's really important that they are involved in the fundraising," Morretta said of the teenagers. "The city has a ton of needs and priorities. They (skate park committee members) need to make that happen and it's important that we get their attention focused."

So far, the teen skate committee has raised about $1,500 through its snack bar that operates at the community every Saturday from 10 to 3 p.m.  Money was also raised through a skate competition they organized earlier this year. 

On Wednesday, the committee also decided to begin selling skate park t-shirts designed by one of its members to help raise money for the project.  The t-shirts are $10 and 100 percent of the money goes toward the skate park project.

The project could cost between $300,000 and $400,000, depending on the design and features Morretta said.

Several members of the skate park committee showed up at Manassas Park City Hall Tuesday night to read a letter they'd written to city council.

The appearance by the young people had an impact on governing body members.

Mayor Frank Jones promised to help the group find alternative forms of funding, while Councilman Suhas Naddoni pledged his support and his $250.

Councilman Preston Banks told the young people that he used to skate and that they had his support.

Donations for the Manassas Park Skate Park are tax deductible and should be sent to the Manassas Park Community Center to the attention of Tony Thomas.