A group of skateboarders recently brought a petition before both the Los Altos School District (LASD) and City Council to request that a skate park be built in Los Altos. The students, many of whom attend Egan Junior High School, have been frustrated by the lack of a park.

Eighth grader Kyle Walden brainstormed the idea to start a petition, which according to Kyle would have been impossible without help from fellow eighth graders Jason Spielman and Anthony Bello. The petition was brought to the high school by junior Katherine Portelli.

“[Skateboarders not having a skate park] is like… soccer players not having a soccer field,” Katherine said.

The students presented the petition at the LASD School Board meeting on Thursday, October 23 and at a Youth Commission-City Council joint meeting on Tuesday, October 28. They made a presentation explaining “who we are, why we need it and what the benefits are.”

The petition has over 1,000 signatures. According to Kyle, both the School Board and the Youth Commission received the petition favorably. He hopes that their support will persuade City Council, which is supposed to make a decision by Tuesday, December 16. Possible locations for the park, if approved, include Hillview and Shoup Park. It would most likely be constructed around 2012.