Lords of O-town

Skateboarding isn’t a crime, the saying goes, but you wouldn’t know it by asking J.T. Erickson.

The 17-year-old is a member of the recently formed Ojai Skate Team and currently seeded 10th among the 100 students competing in the National High School Skateboard Association (NHSSA). With any luck, he will compete against the other top 20 skaters this August at the X Games in Santa Monica.

But all that didn’t matter recently when Erickson got a ticket for ollieing down some stairs in the arcade, an area clearly posted as a no-skating zone. Ojai has a skatepark — a corner of the parking lot outside Chaparral Auditorium — but the structure is so dilapidated it has become a far less desirable skating location than the rest of the city. One of only two wooden skateparks left in Southern California, it has undergone constant repair since its installation in 2000, and the pyramid was recently removed due to termite infestation. With that piece gone, Erickson says, “there’s a lot of pushing around,” and it’s impossible to get up the speed necessary to use some of the other elements. And there are no stairs.

Asked by the police officer whether he had seen and understood the signs prohibiting skateboarding, Erickson had to reluctantly answer in the affirmative. Now the high school junior says he faces a fine and possible court appearance.

Erickson says he is grateful for the skatepark they have now, but he wishes the community were more understanding.

“I don’t think it should be a crime to be riding on a piece of wood with four wheels,” he says.

The current skatepark was never supposed to last as long as it did. Constructed with donated labor and materials in 2000 after a seven-year search for a location, it was intended as a stopgap measure until the city could replace it with something more permanent. But the city fell on hard times, and that plan was delayed again and again in the face of more pressing needs.

Now the city is back on board, thanks to a budget surplus and the prolonged efforts of a task force of about 40 parents and grandparents eager to see the project through to completion.

Skate Ojai, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, was formed to raise the estimated $350,000 necessary to construct a basic, in-ground concrete skate park. The city has set a deadline of June 30 to raise the funds. Fortunately, the city and the Ojai Civic Association have each put up $100,000 to kick things off, and an anonymous donor has pledged matching funds up to $50,000.

With $105,000 and a little more than a month to go, Skate Ojai and the Ojai Recreation Department are sponsoring a “Skate for the Green” fundraiser May 31 at the Park’n’Ride lot adjacent to the skate park to raise the difference. Put on without a budget, the event will feature a skating demo and competition, a free movie screening, and an appearance and autograph signing by Ojai native and professional skateboarder Rodney Mullen. Live 105.5 will be broadcasting from the event, and Peggy Oki of the original Dogtown Z-boys will participate as a guest judge. Organizers also hope to use solar power in keeping with the fundraiser’s message of environmental consciousness.

There is a minor bump in the road, however. The current skate park is built on land owned by the Ojai School Board and leased to the city through 2023. The board has proven hesitant to extend the lease in advance lest they later decide to develop the land for their own purposes. Though task force members are optimistic that the intervening years will convince the school board of the park’s necessity, Sunday Rylander, an organizer of Saturday’s fundraiser, says the project is worth it, even if the board asks the city to remove the structure at the termination of the lease.

“These kids have already been waiting for 15 years,” she says. “Why not have a good thing for 15 years?”

Wendy Hilgers, a task force member and grandmother whose son and grandson are both skaters, may be the park’s most ardent supporter. A regular participant at City Council meetings since 1993, she now handles donations and has become the cause’s unofficial champion around town. Hilgers has been struck by the tremendous groundswell of support Skate Ojai has received from the community.

“People have just stepped up,” she says, and a surprising number of them are kids.

There was the Ojai Valley Surf Club, who held a fundraiser and later wrote a check for $630. One 12-year-old girl asked for donations to the skate park in lieu of birthday gifts, raising another $120 that was then matched by the anonymous donor. And wherever Hilgers goes, children open up their pocketbooks to offer $2 and $5 donations. She painstakingly records each person’s name to send them a thank you card, convinced that every little bit helps. And because the nonprofit has no overhead, she says, “every single penny is in our account.”

Hilgers first became interested in skateboarding when she took her son to parks and saw him interact with other skaters.

“I just fell in love with the whole idea,” she says. “I saw how the older kids treated him and how they taught him moves. I was always impressed with the camaraderie and the fun of it.”

For Hilgers, the current park’s poor condition and isolated location sends a negative message to kids about how much the community values them.

“Anyone asked to use that facility would have a really depressed feeling,” she says. “Once they have a place that’s beautiful, they’ll feel so much better about themselves.”

She looks to Santa Barbara, a city where the skate park was given the most prominent piece of real estate — right on the beach.

“It’s easy to get to, easy to see, and the kids feel so proud that they were given such a great spot,” she says.

With the planned structure, “the main concern is that the kids feel they’re part of the community, that we’re not sending them off to some dark corner,” Hilgers says.

Zander Gabriel, 17, is seeded second in the NHSSA league and took first place at the May 24 competition at Woodward West in Tehachapi. As captain of the Ojai Skate Team, he is also the only member who drives, and spends time busing his teammates back and forth to other parks.

Despite his achievements, Gabriel says he thinks some community members see him and his friends as dirty, partly due to the trash that often litters the skate park and the storm drain nearby. A newer, cleaner park would improve the team and give the community “a different opinion of us.”

The planned structure will expand from 7,000 to 10,000 square feet, with an open plan that will allow skaters to be visible from the street and for passersby to stop and watch. Hilgers says the nonprofit plans to continue fundraising past the June 30 deadline to eventually raise money for bike paths, benches and restrooms.

Gabriel’s mother, Judy, believes a new park that is “more integrated into the community” would also play an important role in returning the hospitality shown to Ojai’s skaters over the years by other cities.

“It’s a really beautiful environment to watch when you go to another town. The kids are very welcoming,” she says. “There’s a respect for other skaters when they come, especially if they’re good … We will now be able to host skaters from other towns and with pride show them our park.”

Though Hilgers acknowledges the difficulties of fundraising in a small town, the numbers of people she has met agreeing the project is long overdue have made her hopeful.
“Everyone says the same thing: ‘Oh my god, finally,’ ” she says.

Assuming all the money is raised, construction will not even begin until the plans have been finalized, likely to be well after June 30. Even so, Gabriel says the project is already causing a stir among her sons and their friends.

“They’re so excited,” he says. “They can’t wait.”   

kate for the Green takes place May 30 at 12 p.m. at the Park’n’Ride Lot (414 E. Ojai Avenue, Ojai). For more information and to download a waiver, visit www.ojaiskatepark.com or www.ci.ojai.ca.us.