Tehachapi News

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Gary Opfermann, managing director of the Tehachapi Valley Recreation & Parks District, has given advance warning of new rules for the wildly popular Ollie Mountain Skate Park - even throwing a barbeque for parents and kids to discuss the more structured format - but the changes are likely to be a hard sell.

“Nobody likes change,” Opfermann said.

“It's stupid,” said Jonathan Perrien, 18, at the park last week.

“No one's going to come here when those rules happen,” said Adam Bryson, 15, who said the skaters would go to the streets.

In-line skater Zack Blevins, 15, is OK with the tougher rules regarding helmets and an entry fee.

“It's going to be for the betterment of the skate park,” Blevins said. “I don't have a problem with it. I'll find the money.”

The open-air facility, located on D street at West Park in the city of Tehachapi, has been free of charge and has allowed youngsters of all ages to play on skateboards, inline skates, scooters and BMX bicycles all at the same time. No district staffers were on site, as traditional advice was that staffing would increase the district's liability. Volunteers and parents kept an eye on the activities. But the district's insurance company has decreed that such laissez-faire play is no longer acceptable.

“The insurance carrier told us they will insure us only if we enforce the helmet rule,” Opfermann said the district suggests the use of elbow and knee pads but does not require them.

Under the new policy, the district charges an entry fee, requires guardian waivers and provides supervision by a district staffer on site.

On-site staffer Paul Castro, 19, of Tehachapi, is posted at the new 10x12-foot Dry Creek mini-barn at the park entrance.

“With rising insurance rates,” Opfermann said, “It's prudent to have somebody there.”
As of August 25, the new policy calls for a $2 daily charge for residents of the Tehachapi Valley Recreation & Parks District and $4 daily for non-residents - a category that includes the older skaters and riders who drive up from Lancaster, Palmdale and Bakersfield as well as residents of Bear Valley Springs and Stallion Springs, which are not part of the district.

Under the new policy, skateboards, inline skaters, scooters and BMX riders are grouped in separate sessions. Spectators must remain outside the park.
Snacks and water will be sold in the new gate shack.

Some of the youngsters who show up at the park daily feel as if they are facing a dramatic rupture in the order of their lives.

“It's a city park. We shouldn't have to pay,” said Dallas Baranosky. “During the summer it's the only thing to do. We come here to socialize. Skateboarders socialize with bikeriders and inline skaters socialize with the others.”

“Helmets are not necessary,” Baranosky said. “It's your own fault if you eat it and break your head open.”

“Everybody loves coming to the park,” said Perrien, who conceded, “The helmet thing is OK. But dividing by days is no good,” referring to the sessions grouping the four disciplines. He said the skaters and riders know how to conduct themselves.

 “There are certain unwritten rules,” Perrien said, gesturing at the park's halfpipe element. “If somebody's coming out this way, nobody's going to jet out that way.”
Baranosky said, “The only problem is when little kids come. They don't know the rules.”

Perrien said, “But you can't kick them out. They're the future.”
 

The older boys were disturbed that some parents leave their little ones unsupervised at the park.

Opfermann said there are plans to expand the park to make room for beginner, intermediate and advanced sections.
 

In the meantime, the older ones are helpful, Paul Castro said.

“They've been real good about teaching the little ones,” he said.
 

Some regulars have decided to go an entrepreneurial route rather than acquiesce to the new rules.

Sponsored skateboarder Jakel (“Boo”) Johnson, 15, whose older and younger brothers also use the park, said, “My mom can't afford to pay $6 every day.”
 

Johnson and his friend Damon Franklin, 15, showing off penned-on tattoos of their skate crew JHF (“Just Have Fun”), said they plan to build their own skate park in Johnson's back yard.

“We estimate it will take $5,000,” Franklin said. “I'll sell candy at school, do car washes, get donations, save my lunch money.”

“The skate park's not worth paying for,” Bryson said. “They shouldn't make us pay for it. We've been coming here for five years.”

Franklin said, “This is a second home to me. My mom always knows how to find me, 'cause I'm here.”

Inline skater Zack Blevins, 15, said, “I am here more than at my home.”
 

Blevins is comfortable with the tougher rules regarding helmets and the entry fee.

“It's going to be for the betterment of the skate park. I don't have a problem with it. I'll find the money,” Blevins said.

Segregating the wheels, however, he said, “doesn't sound like a good idea. The only real problem is when there's a lot of bikers and just a couple of other people. The bikes take up so much room. It's inconvenient.”

Blevins said the park regulars police themselves.
 

“Usually when there's going to be a fight we kick them out, make them go somewhere else to fight, so they don't close the skate park.”

In the winter, Blevins said, “Sometimes we have to snow shovel. Gary leaves a snow shovel out. I've been here when everything is frosty and icy.”

Byron Herman, 18, also is willing to give the new policy a chance.
 

“I feel like this place needs improvement. The skate park has good potential. The new rules are going to be harsh in the beginning. If you really want to ride, you are going to come and you're going to pay the money.”

During the summer, the park is packed from dawn to dusk. The day after school was out last year, Opfermann said, up to 90 skaters crowded the park.

“It hovered at the 75 mark for two months,” he said. “Then went to 40. That's a lot of kids in that park.”

The park will issue wristbands or hand stamps to keep track of the youngsters. The district staffer also will sell water and snacks from the new gate shack. It's a matter of safety, said Opfermann, who took over management of the park last September. He said that before his arrival, three youngsters had been helicoptered out with cracked skulls.

A collision between a bicycle and a skater, for example, can cause serious injury, he said.

Other problems awaited Opfermann, a veteran of 35 years experience in athletic facilities management and fresh from a post at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He laid out a plan to revitalize the skate park.

“The kids had no sense of ownership of the park,” Opfermann said. “There was graffiti, dopers and alcohol use, [gang] bangers. I had meetings with the kids and their parents. I told them the only was we can get it to stop is to get the kids to take ownership of the park. They've done that…It took three months to get everyone on board. There are no longer bangers, thugs are no more.”

He said the youngsters have not trashed the park since last November. The success of his plan has brought its own difficulties.

“The pendulum has swung too far,” Opfermann said. “They [kids] are overzealous. They think they own the park. The next step in ownership is to take responsibility.”

“The kids want that park,” Opfermann said. “They want it to be their park but they don't know how. That's where I step in. They want direction.”

Youngsters who have trouble paying the $2 will have an opportunity to work for their entry.

“Say a kid can't afford the $2,” Opfermann said. “We'll say, 'How 'bout you empty the trash cans in the park for an hour? Just change out those bags.' If you figure he's working for minimum wage, that's four visits to the park. They're going to have to work. Are they going to trash the park after that? I don't think so.”
 

The age range of five years through about 22 years creates its own dynamic
 

“The older ones are more trouble,” he said.

Many of the older skate park users who drive up from Lancaster, Palmdale and Bakersfield stay all day, Opferman said, drawn by the free entry and the cooler weather. “They come up here in brand new vehicles, so they can pay [the doube fee],” Opfermann said.

The district commission is working on the wording of a resolution that will become an ordinance that will enable the Tehachapi Police Department enforce the new rules.

The website Skaters for Public Skateparks underlines what the youngsters and the park manager say about Ollie Mountain Skatepark. Number four on the list of “Top 10 Design Mistakes” in building a skatepark, the site says, is “Underestimating the social value of the skatepark to its users. Successful skateparks gather regular users that come to form a micro-community. Not only should this be understood by planners but it should be encouraged and planned for.”

Opfermann, with plans for expansion, competitions and concerts in the works, concurs.

“The skate park is needed. Sure it's a hassle. It's the nature of the beast.”