Tony Hawk to Cut Ribbon at New Skate Park

Skateboarder Tony Hawk, Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield and city officials will cut the ribbon today on a 14,000-square- foot skate plaza in Canoga Park.

Hawk and the Birdhouse Skateboards team will offer a demonstration of their skills after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Lanark Skate Plaza at 21816 Lanark St. The park is designed by New Line Skateparks.

This would be the first skate park in the West San Fernando Valley, council aides said. The Lanark Recreation Center site was chosen by city parks officials in 2008 as one of several sites suitable for building a skate park.

Blumenfield worked to put the project out to bid in 2014, with the contract eventually awarded to California Skateparks earlier this year, according to council aides.

The $547,000 used to build the skate plaza was mostly funded by state money especially set aside for parks, along with $150,000 in discretionary funds from Blumenfield’s 3rd Council District and a $30,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation that was used toward designing the park, aides said.

The Lanark Skate Plaza -- which features rails, ledges and transitions -- is less than 10 miles from a Tarzana street where Blumenfield is hoping to curb skateboard racing.

Blumenfield submitted a motion to prohibit skateboarding on Hermano Drive, from Reseda Boulevard to the terminus of the street, after residents in that area submitted a petition to stop the activity.

Skateboarders have been racing down the street’s hills in an activity known as “bombing,” the motion said.

City officials can restrict skateboarding in places where “there is a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of person or property,” according to Blumenfield’s motion.

His motion will be considered by the City Council’s Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee.

City News Service

Photo: Wikimedia Commons