SKATEBOARD PARK - THE GREAT DECEPTION

Why are those few at the helm putting all the eggs for the Fremont Skateboard Park in one basket? For some very strange reason those few have clung onto only the Waterpark site even though an analysis released to them last year clearly showed the Waterpark site a distant last in a showdown with alternate sites that are located in a much more promising clear area of Central park between Stevenson Blvd and the "Teen Center".

Is the City's intent to purposely have the skateboard park project fail in the same manner that they caused the Teen Center to fail? (The former Teen Center is now closed to the general public even after the city spent a good deal of our taxpayer money "trying" to accommodate teens. It is now being rented out to provide revenue that ensures the paychecks of city employees, regardless of any future tax cuts. This makes sense to the City - the teenagers got the shaft, but the City feeds their own paychecks.) Think about this ... despite all the taxpayer money that has gone into the "Teen Center", the general public has lost rights to this building, yet revenue from money that taxpayers have poured into that building for years gets converted into money that ends up in city employee pockets. Not the most efficient use of taxpayer money - but what a racket for city employees! To top this off, they recently built upon this same scheme to quickly add another 1/2 million taxpayer dollars (like it was nothing) to this "Teen Center" that was also not intended to make it useable for taxpayers, but to further inflate their paychecks. From our taxpayer perspective, this latest 1/2 million dollars of our hard earned money was essentially completely lost because we are not being benefitted by it. Among other more worthwhile uses that would all have benefitted the general public, this 1/2 million dollars of our money could have been better spent on improving roads or even building a strategically placed restroom in Central Park. (A main purpose of taxpayer funding is to gain useful facilities for citizen recurring use, not to have this money get converted and diverted to ensure a bigger future paycheck for a few city employees without providing any value added. Instead the City came up with a scheme to benefit only city employees by converting a non-revenue generating "Teen Center" into a revenue generating machine exclusively for them. Hmmm ... what could they be up to next?)

There are so many questions that the Fremont City Government can't (or won't) answer. Anyone seriously interested in skateboarding would obviously prefer a 1 acre, 2 million dollar skateboard park already in place near the previous location (where it peacefully existed for years), rather than forever hearing talk about having it possibly implemented at some HEAVILY CONTESTED site a mile away that has been exposed to clearly disturb a residential area, where lights have never been allowed. Any implementation in this known USGS (United States Geological Survey) hazard site also sounds very suspect. (Even if there is some legit intent, all it takes is one troublemaker from out of the area to provide an excuse to spoil it for all.) Fencing in the Waterpark site was definitely on the minds of council members when the Waterpark site was selected (Fremont City document dated 3/2/10 page 2.4.1 "... Controlled Access - this site can be easily fenced should the city find it necessary ..."). The neighbors of that area certainly would not object to fencing and it bodes well with the City's present practice of charging over $8 just to be a spectator right next door. (Check it out - it is now $8.99 for those with absolutely no intent of using any of the Waterpark facilities!) Why is the City excessively overcharging those who only intend to be present to ensure the safety of young children in their care? One can't protest enough against this injustice, but the city wants to pad their paychecks and they don't seem to care who gets squeezed in the process. To think that this same group in the city government would now allow skateboarding all day long or allow the same spectators (who have to pay $8.99 at the adjacent Waterpark) into the skateboarding activity for free right next door is naive. As the complaints come in, this obvious disparity will have to be corrected. Levying the same charges in the same area, would only be fair. (That entire area was the former swim lagoon which was fenced in and always had a charged entry. Charging for the skateboard park that intends to take over some of that area would then allow the Waterpark restrooms to be used, which now makes sense as skateboarders would no longer be restricted to those 630 feet away which would otherwise be an excessive distance.)

The alternate sites have none of the problems of the Waterpark site and are near the tried and proven temporary skateboard park that peacefully existed for years. Fencing is far less likely. Lighting for nighttime activity will not present problems. Participants can be as loud as they want with music as loud as they want without being hassled. They are safer and much more convenient to BART and food options, emergency response, etc.. The businesses in the area even welcome them. There is no reason to not put the skateboard park in this area, where it can peacefully exist for many more years.

The city staff publically admitted last year that the alternate site was doable on-schedule, which means that the skateboard park could have been completed this year to everyone's satisfaction. This was noted in an editorial in the Tri-City Voice 1/18/11 issue on page 27
( http://www.tricityvoice.com/displayPages.php?issue=2011-01-18&p... ).
An earlier editorial also told it like it was
( http://www.tricityvoice.com/displayPages.php?issue=2010-09-28&p... ).
(Even the attorney FOR the City of Fremont is questioning the actions of council members!)

Both impartial reporters representing the public press at the city council meetings have seen right through council members and both noted the City's very peculiar behavior that revealed that they have not taken any action to ensure that a skateboard park would get implemented. In fact, they both acknowledged that the City's unexplainable actions were actually minimizing the possibility of a skateboard park EVER getting implemented and that the city seemed to be more into their own agenda of which seemed very suspicious. (They did seem more into bullying than caring for those whose lives they ruin in the process.) This group has already lost credibility with a lot of citizens. They have already proven to be VERY deceitful to Fremont residents and can't be trusted. (Residents were led to believe that a long established recreational swim lagoon facility was completely bulldozed so it could be "updated" by a "much better" Waterpark. When that didn't fill the entire area, they were then led to believe that it would expand as the money came in. Residents then found out by accident that a skateboard park was being planned in that area which was right in front of some of their homes and yet NO ONE was given ANY notification. After immediately bringing this up, the City said it was now too late to change the site choice and even lied to the media that they had informed residents along Paseo Padre of the pending skateboard park. (The city eventually admitted that this was not true.) Seeing this "bait and switch" take place firsthand, it fits that the City does not want the residents to meet with the skateboarders.

This is not supposed to be a dictatorship or a government of "leaders" who bully to gain their interests. The public needs to be aware of what is going on and speak up against this behavior. While residents inconsiderately impacted in the Waterpark area have given freely of their time and even dug into their own pockets for thousands of dollars to object to this conduct, the city employees continue to be compensated for every moment they spend on this "effort". Despite the possible perception, the City employees have actually invested nothing from their own pockets on this project. It is important to realize that they have spent OUR hard earned taxpayer money, NOT theirs. Ironically, some of their compensation is even coming from the taxpayers who they are mistreating. (They should vote themselves a pay cut to put less of our money into their own pockets in these challenging times, rather than exploiting unsuspecting citizens of Fremont and being wasteful at taxpayer expense.)

It doesn't make sense to forcefully upset an established environment with a different development, when another area that has been waiting for years to be developed, offers so much more for the entire public and even welcomes development. Why can't our city "leaders" at least be sensitive to the citizens who are the most impacted?

The Waterpark site is obviously not the best site for a lasting free open skateboard park. Those employed by the City do NOT have the best interest of the skateboarders in mind. After seeing the Teen Center "folly", if the skateboarders are smart and genuinely want a free skateboard park, they would be pushing for one of the alternate sites (along with the rest of Fremont) as there is no excuse to delay a public skateboard park at a site where it will be appreciated by all. If the City had done this from the beginning, the skateboard park would be in place this year without ANY objections.


Bob Fifield, June Griffin and others