What do you want to see at OP Park?

So, I met with Ms Anjie at the OP Park over the weekend, and discussed the potential for additions to the park, in addition to weird bureaucratic mysteries going on at OP Town Hall. (OP Seriously needs a Joey Marchy of it's own!) So, word its we could possibly getting some big improvements going to the park. It's up in the air right now, but for the time being, I want to hear what you might want in the park. Post up and let me know! Personally, I'm voting for an Animal Chin Ramp.

Here is your replacement for OP Park in Orange Park FL

I don't think the town planners in Orange Park are actually smoking crack, but after seeing this proposed redesign of the park, it would certainly seem that way. Why would they take an already great looking park that is built by skaters to last for years, and replace it with what looks like a rejected 'build your own park' from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2? Apparently the budget is the reason for this barren wasteland of a skatepark design. According to Jason Baldessari of Spohn Ranch (whose logo appears on the above image):

"The design you saw that was put together for Orange Park is a direct product of the available budget for the available area. From what we were told the existing ramps were going to be scraped but if the park is in good shape that is a whole different story."

So basically this means whomever contracted the designer of the new proposed park intends to scrap the thousands of dollars worth of safe, skateable, built-to-last skate ramps and obstacles currently at the park that you have all worked so hard to get, and replace it with what looks like what Optimus Prime might crap out after a small meal. Kind of a slap in the face, isn't it? I mean sure, the small collection of tiny obstacles might be decent in quality, but seriously - that picture looks like a collection the Lego blocks that got lost behind the couch.

I'm having a hard time coming up with contact information for the people responsible for this, but here is what I have-

Town Manager:
John W. Bowles
Phone: 278-3018 (Town Hall)

Orange Park Town Clerk:
opclerk@townoforangepark.com

Please contact these people and try to find out what is going on. Let them know what you think. Let ME know what you think. Thanks.


On a final note - Check out the Spohn Ranch website to see what the designer is capable of. They are by NO MEANS the bad guy here. Just look at what is possible, and think about how you would apply that to the park design. Check out what they built at UNF: