‘Not a good feeling’: Las Vegas skaters react to shutdown of makeshift park
On a cloudy Tuesday afternoon, three skaters rode around a makeshift skatepark at Desert Breeze Park. The park, they all remarked, is a place of community for street skaters.
The informal park near Durango Drive and Spring Mountain Road is built on a roller hockey rink. Local skaters built the ramps, bowls and ledges throughout the rink. Most of the obstacles are made from boards and other discarded items. Some skaters even leave old skateboard parts and tools for others to use.
On Monday, people reported Clark County officials around the park. The makeshift skatepark will be shut down, and local street skaters shared upset at the disruption to their community.
“The unauthorized installations on the hockey rink are a safety risk and are being removed for this reason. A date for removal has not yet been established,” said Jennifer Cooper, chief communications and strategy officer for Clark County, in an email on Tuesday.
A couple hundred feet away sits the official Clark County skatepark at Desert Breeze Park. The county describes the skatepark as suited for “intermediate to advanced level with some beginner aspects.”
The makeshift park has sharp contrasts from the county park. The county park has large, deep bowls. The makeshift park is fit for street skating, said Wesley Madill, 14, and it’s popular among many skaters.
Madill has been coming to the makeshift park for three years. He said he skates there with his friends because it’s the closest to his house and is beginner friendly.
“I really don’t like it. I would hope that they keep it here,” he said.
Another skater at the park, Dylan Young, 13, said he hasn’t noticed any safety concerns with the makeshift park, and recognizes most skateboarding comes with risks.
“If you fall, you kind of got to get back up. It makes you learn more,” he said.
The fact the city is shutting down the makeshift park is “not a good feeling,” Young said.
“Everyone’s friends. Everyone cheers people on here,” he said.
At the county skatepark, mud and still water were in the bowl. Cracks in concrete were also present throughout the bowls and ramps.
One issue with closing the makeshift park is that it’s taken better care of than the county park, said Zach “Lue” Stephenson, 29.
“The other park has been needing a revamp for a while. The rails are falling off the boxes, the bowl is really chunky and dangerous,” he said.
He also doesn’t believe the county skatepark was made with skaters in mind, and he worries that if the county was to update the park, it wouldn’t satisfy skaters’ needs. When the makeshift park is shut down, he believes another park just like it will pop up somewhere else around the city, Stephenson said.
“The truth is the city is too cheap to find an actual good construction team that’s going to do the park justice,” he said. “In the sense of shutting it down because of safety concerns, I think the city could do something better with the money.”
Contact Megan Howard at mhoward@reviewjournal.com. Follow her on X at @meganmhxward.
