To the Chase Building Garage off La Cruz
Skateboarders have been using the ramp into the garage and the garage as a skateboard “park” causing damage to the building with the fire extinguishers.
At the September 4 Pacific Palisades Business Improvement District (BID) meeting, TOPA Property Manager Kristina Shahidi said that the garage under the Chase Building (below Taj Palace and Modo Mio) had suffered more than $7,000 in damage because of skateboarders.
She reported that on the weekend of August 30-September 1, 16 skateboarders were asked to leave the parking structure.
“On Fridays and Saturdays there’s an influx of teenagers on skateboards going into the [underground] garage,” said Shahidi, who noted that often a skateboarder comes flying out onto La Cruz when a motorist is least expecting him.
She said certain teens have taken the fire extinguishers off the walls and set them off and that this has been an ongoing issue in that location. She was asked if there was a guard, “Yes, but the kids have started threatening her.”
Shahidi said Senior Lead LAPD Officer Michael Moore had been notified and is aware of the problem. Last weekend (end of August) the police showed and were able to grab one teen, who was turned over to his parents.
Meanwhile, Palisades High sophomore Max Burger, a skateboarder, has approached the Park Advisory Board and the Pacific Palisades Community Council, asking for support in finding a location for a skateboard park in Pacific Palisades.
Burger said that he and most skateboarders can’t drive to go to other locations, and that there is a big need for a park.
The nearest skateparks are The Cove in Santa Monica, Stoner Park in Sawtelle and the Venice Beach boardwalk skatepark.
Residents have noticed that when teens don’t have a place to skate, they make their own park, such as using the steps at Palisades Elementary.
A temporary park was tried years ago at the Palisades Recreation Center, but as PAB member Bob Benton recalled, “To say it was a fiasco is an understatement.”
At an August 21 Malibu City Council meeting, council members voted in favor of opening a temporary skateboard park and approved $300,000 in funds. The project must now go before the Coastal Commission. The temporary skate park would eventually become a parking lot for the proposed 12,500-sq.ft. permanent, in-ground skate park on the Crummer/Case property, a 1.74-acre parcel adjacent to Bluffs Park.
Bob, you have always been a wonderful advocate for all things “Palisadian”…..can you do anything ASAP. This is like cow-towing to vandals, but we should offer them some physical means to let off adolescent steam. Can the owners of Modo Mio building set up a gate or other means to block skateboarders / can they install cameras – but the boarders don’t respect property ,obviously, and those things would probably be vandalized too. I think you should press charges- too much entitlement in this community. That’s a great part of this problem.