TO SAY that skateboarding enthusiasts are happy about Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plan to put up a skate park at the South Road Properties is an understatement.
“Really, everyone’s happy, it’s about time,” said Peter Lindgreen, the spokesperson for Cebu skateboarders. “We’ve been dreaming about having a skate park for a decade now. We’ve made proposals to the city government but of course, they also have other priorities. But now that there’s a plan. It is a dream come true.”
Osmeña made the plan after netizen Rauell Ygot sent an open letter via 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.
Osmeña said last May 31 that he will have the skate park built on the lot in front of the San Pedro Calungsod template at the SRP, where a sports park is also expected to rise.
In the absence of a skate park at the moment, Cebuano skateboarders practice at the Malacañang sa Sugbo as well as parks in Minglanilla and Naga in the south and Consolacion in the north.
Lindgreen said this planned skate park will be huge not only for Cebu skateboarders but for skateboarding enthusiasts all over the Philippines.
He said the Cebu skateboarding group is planning to meet with Osmeña and give its input on the planning and construction of the skate park, hoping it will be of international standard so it could someday host international competitions.
According to Lindgreen, there is also a plan to revive the Cebu Skateboarding Association, which will serve as the umbrella organization for all skateboarders in Cebu.