SKATE PARK AT SRP SOON

Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña responds to netizen’s request anew

In response to an open letter sent to him via his Facebook page, Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña said he will have a skate park built at the South Road Properties (SRP) immediately.

Netizen Rauell Ygot sent an open letter to Osmeña’s Facebook page, suggesting for a skate park to be built following the good showing of Cebuana Margielyn Didal in the 2018 Street League Skateboarding in London, England held last May 26 to 28, where she finished eighth.

“There CAN be a skate park if you want one. I will reserve space in the SRP for it,” said Osmeña in a post replying to Ygot’s letter.

Osmeña said there is a a high demand from the people, especially the youth, for a skatepark to be built in Cebu City.

“My priority is what will make the most number of people happy, especially the youth,” said Osmeña in a press conference at his office at the City Hall yesterday.

Osmeña said he will have the skate park built on the lot in front the San Pedro Calungsod template at the SRP, where a sports park is also expected to rise. He said he plans to build one that can accommodate a large number of people.

Part of the budget for this sports park will come from the P10-million prize that Cebu City won for topping the recent Philippine National Games (PNG) held in Cebu last May 19 to 25.

This development will be good news for a large number of skateboarders in the city, especially since the closest public skate park they could use is in Lapu-Lapu City.

In Ygot’s letter to Osmeña, she highlighted the achievement of Didal in the prestigious skateboarding competition and at the same time brought up the lack of a public stake park in Cebu City.

“While we understand that not everyone understands and are into this sport, unlike basketball, the local skateboarding scene is proud of what our fellow Bisaya has achieved. It’s no easy feat to be competing against the top female skateboarders in the world, considering that Cebu is one of the places with NO SKATE PARK. Because of this, we hope you can take the time to acknowledge Ms. Didal’s achievement and consider putting up a park as well,” Ygot’s letter read.

This isn’t the first time Osmeña has responded to requests through his Facebook page.

Last March, he also responded to a request by netizen Mitch Roldan to have the Cebu City Public Library available for 24 hours so that students could have a secure and affordable place to study and not rely on fastfood places.

Shortly after, Zion Kristoffer Isobal asked the mayor, also through Facebook, if the Cebu City Sports Complex could be operational 24/7 so that Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) employees who work during the evening could still find a place to jog or run, and be fit.

All these requests were granted by the mayor./CNU Intern Nikki B. Villagorda