EVERETT – The city’s newest skate park will come equipped with a twist just for parents: a webcam that will monitor the park’s goings-on.
And the skateboard stunts that happen at the park – every twist, flip and wipeout – will be broadcast through the city’s Web site for anyone with Internet access.
For Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, the webcam is good advertising. People interested in skateboarding will be able to go online and check out the park before visiting it, he said.
| New skate park Calling all skateboarders: Now is your chance to weigh in on how a skate park in Wiggums Hollow Park in north Everett should look once it’s built. Call assistant parks director Hal Gausman at 425-257-8300 with your ideas. When the skate park opens in the fall, every stunt that takes place there will be broadcast via a webcam through the city of Everett Web site. |
For parents, it’s a full-time child monitor they can access from work, home or any wireless site.
“A lot of cities have really been seeing that a webcam provides an extra level for parents to check on their kids,” assistant parks director Hal Gausman said. “It’s an extra way a lot of cities are using to help provide security.
“There seemed to be a need from the community to have a skate park on the north end, and there was lots of interest from kids and parents,” Gausman said. “The goal is to give kids a place to skate that’s off the street.”
The city’s first skate park was built at Walter E. Hall Park on Casino Road.
The new skate facilities and the webcam are part of a parks department upgrade that will cost about $1.7 million.
The Wiggums Hollow Park improvements will cost about $250,000, including the skate facilities, the webcam, extra parking and a drinking fountain, Gausman said.
Sen. Henry M. Jackson Park on State Street will get a new picnic shelter, playground and other features. The city will spend more than $700,000 there.
At Lions Park on Cascade Drive, the city will spend more than $430,000 for parking improvements and a new playground. About $270,000 will be spent at Thornton Sullivan Park at Silver Lake for cleanup of an old campground the city purchased.
Gateways at the city’s north and south ends will get new signs, for a total of about $150,000.
Each of the projects is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
“It’s not only a quality-of-life issue, but an economic development issue as well,” Stephanson said. “People want to move where their children have a place to play.”
The park improvements are necessary for continued city growth, he said. And this year’s $1.7 million is just the beginning. Stephanson plans to unveil a comprehensive plan for parks in the coming months that will assess the city’s open spaces and outline plans for major improvements.
Those changes don’t have a price tag yet, but the city is prepared to invest heavily in them, he said.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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