‘Thousands of kids we want to get off the street for safety’
For nearly two years, the Mid-City CAN Youth Council has been advocating for more park space in City Heights.
Those efforts are paying off.
City officials were able to get approval from the California Department of Housing and Community Development to use $846,950 – originally slated for a Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation project – to fund the Central Avenue Mini-Park skate plaza.
Marcos Olascoaga – 19, a Mid-City CAN Youth Council member who is attending college at California State University, Chico – helped launch the campaign. He was skateboarding in City Heights, when he was hit by an SUV nearly three years ago. [Video]
Despite attending college in Northern California, Olascoaga still follows the group’s progress through social media and updates from his sister – another youth council member.
“It just shows how much work they are putting in to get a skate park,” he said.
