TULSA, Okla. — The future of one of Tulsa’s only public skate parks is uncertain.
The park, on the west side of the Arkansas River, has been closed for three years. There are development plans there now and the city says the park could be demolished.
Nic Stolusky is active in the skateboard community and leading a charge to try and get the City of Tulsa to relocate it or build a new one. Without it, there is only one public skate park in far north Tulsa. Even there, because the lights haven’t worked for nearly a year, it’s only open during the day.
“I would love for us to be able to move it and keep it but most of all we need a skate park,” he said. “We really need the city to double down and help the extreme sports.”
Stolusky says the skating industry is booming. It is now an Olympic sport and he says Tulsa needs to get on board the way they do with other extreme sports like BMX.
Up until the skate park closed, Casey Rash was there every day. She valued the safety of the park.
“Being an only child, my mom didn’t want me going downtown with a bunch of boys my age,” she said.
About 20 years ago, the skate park was built at McClure Park. However, it was made of metal and noisy, and neighbors complained. That’s when it moved to the west side of the Arkansas River off 21st Street.
Skaters at Tulsa’s Quickie Mart, a skate shop, say since the Gathering Place is private, they close too early and too often.
“They’ll close at the drop of a hat,” said Nathan Gray. “If there’s an event, if they are refreshing the mulch, they’ll close it.”
Blake Hill runs an after-school program teaching kids how to skateboard and stresses the importance of having options in more areas of town.
“You can’t skate on streets, it’s illegal, you’ll get a ticket, you’ll get hurt,” he said. “Having a wide variety of parks gives people options for skating at different places.”
2 News Oklahoma reached out to the City of Tulsa. We are told there have been talks about moving at least part of the park to another location. However, the cost, feasibility, and whether the deteriorating ramps meet today’s safety standards are all in question.
The city said it plans to hire a consultant to determine what to do and could decide whether to scrap, save or possibly build an entirely new park, in the next couple of months.
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