Paying for entrance to local Skate Park (Corona, Coronado: home, live)

[possum_magic]

My family and I rocked up to local outdoor, run-of-the-mill skate park. Discovered that you have to pay $5 entry fee to skate, after you pay a registration fee. Also informed that some areas of SD the Skate Parks are free.

I'm a little taken aback.

Personally I think they should all be free. Kids love to hang out at these places, socialize, develop their skating techniques, get some exercise. My husband just wanted to relive his youth and skate for a bit. We can afford $5, so it's no big deal to us atm, but I'm concerned about the kids that can't afford it and want to skate everyday.

My kids are too little to skate on their own, but when they are old enough to take off to the skate park on their own, i'd be tempted to let them take the risk of copping a fine and skating in public no-skate areas, than fork out $5 a day for skating in the local skate park.

What's your opinion? Are there other US states the same? I am a foreigner and in my home country skate parks are free to use unless they are privately owned indoor venues.

[NYSD1995]

depends on the park, many of the smaller cities (Coronado, etc) charge a fee. It's a mixed bag.

I used to skate Memorial in Logan Heights and they had a fee but would let in the kids who really wanted to skate with good grades / attitudes for free. It was supervised, clean and safe place and many of the parents just dropped their kids off.

Then the city had budget cuts and closed the office, made the park free. It was instantly filled with lots of kids... but also with pot smoke and trash, broken glass, got all tagged up, BMX'ers wrecked the coping, someone set a fire in the deep bowl, someone stole a piece of coping from the vert. wall, etc

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by possum_magic

My family and I rocked up to local outdoor, run-of-the-mill skate park. Discovered that you have to pay $5 entry fee to skate, after you pay a registration fee. Also informed that some areas of SD the Skate Parks are free.

I'm a little taken aback.

Personally I think they should all be free. Kids love to hang out at these places, socialize, develop their skating techniques, get some exercise. My husband just wanted to relive his youth and skate for a bit. We can afford $5, so it's no big deal to us atm, but I'm concerned about the kids that can't afford it and want to skate everyday.

My kids are too little to skate on their own, but when they are old enough to take off to the skate park on their own, i'd be tempted to let them take the risk of copping a fine and skating in public no-skate areas, than fork out $5 a day for skating in the local skate park.

What's your opinion? Are there other US states the same? I am a foreigner and in my home country skate parks are free to use unless they are privately owned indoor venues.

If it's city-owned, consider that the city is strapped for cash, and that fee might be what's keeping it maintained and open. Why not just go to one of the free ones?