California city fills skate park with sand to deter rule-busting skateboarders
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A popular skate park in Southern California has been filled with 37 tons of sand after skateboarders ignored "no trespassing" signs posted as part of the state's coronavirus stay-at-home order, according to reports.
The signs went up at Ralphs Skate Court in San Clemente after the city closed all parks April 1 to contain the spread of the virus.
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“On April 1, we kind of let it play out to see if users would abide by the closure,” Samantha Wylie, the city’s parks manager, told the San Clemente Times.
“During that (two-week period), we saw people continue to skate the park, groups would gather, kids with their parents," she said. "It appeared the closure was not being abided by.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Monday, skateboarders could only watch as city workers turned the concrete playground into a 4-inch-deep sand pit.
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“The sand was what other agencies were doing,” Wylie told the paper. “We’re doing what other parks have done to enforce that message of social distancing.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She said the sand didn't cost the city any money and removing it won’t either.
Stephanie Aguilar, president of the San Clemente Skatepark Coalition, said it feels like the city vandalized its own park.
“Social distancing hasn’t been followed in a lot of different areas, whether it’s on our trails, tennis courts, the basketball courts, the walking paths; we didn’t see the city dump sand on the walking trail,” Aguilar complained to the Times.
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“We didn’t see them dump sand onto any other sport area that’s being used. It just plays into, kind of feeds into that double standard the skate community has been treated with.”
One Instagram user thanked the city for creating a new beach.
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