6 June 12–18, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents NIMBY-ed to Death D allas assesses its recreational amenity needs every 10 years. The next report will be published in 2026, and the city will be far behind the recommended number of skate parks, just as it was in the 2016 and 2006 reports. “I don’t think anyone’s followed [these reports] from 2006 to 2016,” Karimi said. “They saw that perhaps we had zero skate parks in 2006, and we needed to have 10 or 12 by 2016. So we lost 10 years of opportu- nity. … Skate parks were left out, and it caught up with us. It caught up with us now. A park board member is sitting here telling you, we are an embarrassment because [we are behind].” In the 2024 capital bond program, ap- proved by voters, $2 million of a $1.25 billion budget was dedicated to the construction and refurbishment of skate parks in Dallas. Half will go to revamping the old Lakeland Hills Park, and the other half will go to the construction of a new park in South Oak Cliff at Westmoreland Park. But another half-million was dropped from the bond package for a third small park, which was supposed to go toward the Glencoe Park project, before it was shot down. “We found out that citywide, probably 90% of the people say it’s a great idea, but when you go into the neighborhood right there, 90% of the people thought it was a bad idea,” said Karimi, perhaps defining the very essence of NIMBYism. What might be good for thee is not necessarily good for me.” Karimi said critics had noise concerns, worries over loitering and congregation, and the inescapable issue of parking supply in Dallas reared its ugly head again. But ac- cording to the board member, there was also a deeper unease with the park pro- posed in the affluent and older Dallas com- munity. “There was a couple other issues,” Karimi said. “There were issues that I wouldn’t tackle. Like when [neighbors] would say, ‘we don’t want those other peo- ple here’. We are a diverse community in Dallas. We live in the urban core. If you don’t like those other people, my recommenda- tion is to go live in a gated community. Sim- ple as that.” Karimi thinks the egalitarian nature of a skatepark is the very reason the city needs more of them. “There is that element [at skateparks] of community building, building relationships, making new friends, all the things that we want for our kids,” he said. “If they look completely different from my kid, even bet- ter. Even better, because I don’t live in a bub- ble, and I don’t want my kids to think they live in a bubble either. So, even better that everyone looks completely different from each other and dress differently and may walk and talk differently.” Regardless, the plans for the Glencoe skatepark fell through. “For better and for worse, for right or for wrong, your advocacy is your gift,” Karimi said. “But in the end, we failed. But I held up my head and said, ‘We failed in the best way. We failed trying.’” Oak Cliff Optimism D r. Clinton Haley, in a pair of beat-up purple vans, holds the hand of a teen- age skater carefully balancing atop a skateboard resting on the edge of a ramp, telling him to get lower, to squat down if he wants to land right. The ramp, small but serving its instruc- tional purpose, is sitting on the far edge of Cenzo’s Pizza and Deli parking lot, which has been roped off for the midday free skate demo. About a dozen skaters, aged 10 to 40, some riding a board for the first time ever, coast through the lot. Haley’s nonprofit, Skate Parks for Dallas, has a tent set up in the corner, accepting donations for the con- struction of Oak Cliff’s newest skate park at Westmoreland Park. The teenager, with a bloodied elbow and Haley’s hand on his back, drops down the ramp and crashes hard into the concrete, his board flying away and his feet swept out from under him. He’s eaten the pavement half a dozen times, but Haley helps him up, grabs the board, and leads him back to the top of the ramp. “Lower,” Haley tells him. The teenager, on what must have been his 10th attempt, finally lands it, wobbly but up- right, with a gleefully proud look. Haley, a doctor of internal medicine by day, isn’t a lifelong skater, but glides on a board as if it’s as easy as walking. He picked up the sport when his son showed an inter- est 11 years ago, and quickly recognized the intrinsic value of the unique community found at skate parks. Driving to the closest parks, all located in the suburbs of Dallas, at least a 20-minute drive away, became ex- hausting for the physician, who just wanted to spend time with his son, learn a new skill and get some cardiovascular exercise. Dis- covering the severe shortage of skateparks within city limits, and being a born-and- bred Dallasite, the physician decided he would become the spokesperson for local skatepark advocacy. “In the past, there’s been a stigma with skateboarders, but I think that’s been per- petuated [by the shortage],” Haley said. “Without modern skate park amenities, you’re gonna have a bunch of kids wanting to skate on the street. Whereas if you had a modern skate park, the chances are much more likely that they’re gonna use that. So I thought, my city should have this too.” Haley can’t do it alone, though. Luckily, he’s found an ally in City Council member Chad West, who has matched the physi- cian’s vigor in creating the concrete and steel communal spaces. “My children were toddlers when I was first approached by Skate Parks for Dallas and Dr. Clinton Haley and his advocates,” West said. “I hadn’t paid much attention to the skating world. … But they brought it up to me, and I love the idea of skateboarding as an alternative for children who might not want to participate in regular organized sports like baseball or basketball. This is an opportunity for them to still be active and involved in a community of people who are into what they’re into. That’s a little nontra- ditional compared to what’s normal for us here.” The two, determined to give Oak Cliff the best skatepark they possibly can, struck a unique match contribution deal with the city. If they can raise $400,000, the city will donate the same amount to be used in con- junction with the initial amount allotted in the bond plan, bringing the grand construc- tion total to $1.8 million. Still about $25,000 short, they have until the end of August to close the last gap. “Council member West has done a really fantastic job of advocating for it,” Karimi said. “He’s put his money where his mouth is.” In Cenzo’s lot, which is a sneak peek into the environment Haley and West hope will emerge at the new park, first-timers are guided by the cool kids, and the old-timers, well into their 40s, soar as if age is only a number and knees don’t ever ache. Here, for a moment, the world is free of judgment; it’s what Haley has become acclimatized to at all skate parks. “We’ve met people, different ages, races, socioeconomic status that we never would have met otherwise, and we’re certainly bet- ter people for it,” said Haley. “[What] we saw was the magic of a public skate park, and that’s why we spent so much time lob- bying for them over the last nine years, just because we knew the city of Dallas would benefit from it.” With the knowledge of what happened to Glencoe, West and Haley anticipated some pushback in Oak Cliff, which has its fair share of longtime residents who enjoy a sleepy separation from the ruckus of down- town living. But West says Haley, as the op- posite of the stereotype skater, has charmed even the most oppositional of critics, turning the most “curmudgeonly” into donors. Haley, with perfected patience, says shifting the perception of skaters and high- lighting the benefits of skateparks as branches of growth for communities has been crucial in the ongoing change. “It is an interplay between education, un- derstanding and getting not only decision makers to understand, but also the commu- nity to understand and get behind a council member or parks representative,” he said. “So it’s a lot of education, and I do my best to jump at any opportunity to go speak to a council member, parks board representative or community neighborhood group.” Stoner Stereotypes W hile the Glencoe failure proves there are still Dallasites set in their ways and resistant to changing their views on skaters and their designated parks, Haley and West agree that city execu- tives are doing their best to accommodate skaters. “Hats off to Dallas decision makers,” Haley said. “They’re beginning to under- stand the importance of these places that re- ally keep kids safe off the streets, doing a productive activity, with positive peer pres- sure.” While the city has clearly dragged its feet creating new skateparks, Dallas Park Unfair Park from p4 Andrew Sherman >> p8 Oak Cliff Skate Park advocates Chad Dolezal, Clinton Haley, Chad West, JR Huerta, and Ryan Schorman.
