Turlock skaters to host event calling for park lighting. Here’s why
A group of Turlock friends is calling on the city to add lighting to the Koch Memorial Skate Park so people can safely enjoy a free activity after dark.
To bring attention to the need, the group invites the community to a toy drive and BMX jam event Saturday at the skating area within Donnelly Park.
The group of roughly 30 to 40 skaters and riders includes a couple of high school students, but most members are 18 or older, said Turlock resident Nigel Triplett. The group is advocating for sufficient lights at all of the city’s parks, Triplett added, and hopes to inspire people to speak about lighting needs at the next City Council meeting, Dec. 14.
Jacob Linderman, 21 years old and one of the group’s leaders, first asked officials to consider installing lights at the skate park at the Oct. 26 council meeting. Many people cannot go to the skate park while it is open from 7 a.m. to dusk because of work and school, especially when the sun sets early in the winter, Linderman said in an interview. Turlock also does not have many activities available after dark, he said, and options such as bowling cost money.
“Not everybody has access to those kinds of funds,” Linderman said. “We just want a place where we can come and do the activities we enjoy — which are skateboarding, riding bikes and stuff like that — without worrying about falling or not being able to see.”
Linderman prefers to skate at Turlock’s park, but he said he goes to Oakdale and Ceres because their skate parks have lights. In general, Triplett said, Donnelly and other Turlock parks also have some drug and homelessness issues.
“We don’t even like being around there at dark, or any other park in Turlock after dark,” Triplett, 26, said of him and his friends. “Just because of the issue it presents for our safety and others’ safety.”
Triplett added he believes sufficient lighting would discourage criminal activity. When the city planned its first skate park on Starr Avenue, which opened in 2004, a committee chose the location next door to the old police station for safety reasons. But the city closed the park in 2015 before opening the new one in Donnelly Park a year later.
Saturday’s event at 600 Pedras Road will start with a toy drive from 10:30 a.m. to noon. A BMX jam is scheduled to follow from noon until dark.
The group plans to donate the toys to the local Salvation Army, Triplett said. Toy drive donors can enter a raffle to win prizes from Valley Biz Clothing, the sponsor Triplett rides for, and other local businesses.
This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
