Cebu City Sports Commission chairman Edward Hayco (second from left) listens to the sentiments of representatives of the Cebuano skateboarding community regarding the design of the skate park to be built at the Plaza Independencia.
Mars G. Alison
Problem with skate park design just a ‘misunderstanding’
All’s well that ends well.
The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC), the architect in charge of the design for the skate park and some members of the Cebuano skateboarding community finally threshed out some design issues regarding the construction of the skate park in a meeting yesterday at the CCSC board room inside the Cebu City Sports Center.
Present during the meeting were CCSC chairman Edward Hayco, members of the Cebuano skateboarding community led by Peter Lindgreen, and Architect Roy Philip Arriola.
Hayco said the meeting was aimed at “resolving any misunderstanding, differences, perceptions and correct them so that the program will be successful and will have a meaningful purpose which is to serve as a venue for our grassroots program.”
The skate park is set to be built in a 4,000 square-meter lot at the Plaza Independencia.
After the groundbreaking of the city’s first skate park last Tuesday, December 4, some of Cebu’s skateboarders criticized the design on social media.
Lindgreen and Cebuana Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal, who were present during the groundbreaking, said that they were not consulted for the design of the skate park and that their suggestions were not taken into account.
“The way I see it, it was lack of communication which led to misunderstanding,” said Lindgreen of the issues that arose during the groundbreaking.
Arriola explained that the design he presented during the groundbreaking is not yet final and is a working design.
He added that the design he presented contained the suggestions of Lindgreen.
“We received so many suggestions and I rejected subjective suggestions on the design because for me no man is bigger than the project. But I gave weight to Peter’s suggestions and the one I made is basically based on his suggestions,” said Arriola.
Arriola added when the project started, the order that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña gave to him was that to make sure that it can be used by many.
This is also the reason why the design of the park has a street course, flat course, bowl and pump track, because it is intended to be a skate park for all.
Arriola also denied that he did not consult Didal for the design that he made.
He said that he set up a meeting with Didal three times but because the gold medalist was busy, they were only able to meet once.
To resolve things, Hayco told Arriola to incorporate all the things that Didal would need to train but to also make sure that many can still use it.
Arriola agreed and that he would be revising the design to also add a new design that is proposed by Lindgreen.
He said that he will be presenting a 3D rendering of the skate park by next week to the skateboarders and a 3D print within the month.
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