Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
Joining me is, Mark, who is Parks and Recreation Director and, Chris from Corvus Design. Mark, good morning.
Speaker 2:Morning. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Chris. Good to see you. Yes. Thanks. Thanks for having us as well.
Speaker 1:So the Jackie Renninger Day, Park Day is coming up, this weekend. First of all, who wants to take this question? What what's the the the, purpose of the event?
Speaker 2:Well, we'd like to get the community out and, show them our latest designs for the park development and then have some fun with, some of the designers who have been helping us with the skate park. We're gonna have a full day, but the the premise is to get the public involved and really show them the current designs and get their feedback and kinda help move the project forward.
Speaker 1:Nice. And, Chris, you've been involved in the park's design. So what are some of the the key features that make the the park unique?
Speaker 3:Yeah. We we've actually been working on the park design for about three years starting off with a master planning effort and a pretty robust public involvement process. Eight pickleball courts, a brand new skate park. The existing pipeline structure needs to come down. It's reached the end of its useful life.
Speaker 3:So it's gonna get a brand new skate, covered skate park, and it's gonna be more street style. The one that's currently there is very, nineteen eighties, early nineties dated, and street style's more of the, type of skating that's going on in terms of what the the style of skating. And playgrounds, we've got some day use picnic areas, dog park, new restrooms, a community gathering space where we can have food carts and celebrations, a loop fitness trail, and multi multi court, which is a general use court that can be used for basketball, soccer, not regulation size, something a little bit smaller, and then disc golf. So it it's a lot going into a five acre park.
Speaker 1:Wow. And what are some of the challenges of not only designing but building with with, you know, certainly the winter that we had and and the short window for construction that we have in Juneau?
Speaker 3:Well, I I think we were well adapted, and parks are fairly flexed. I'd say the biggest challenge, I hate to say it, and I'm gonna look over at Mark, is funding, for this one. But I think in terms of what needs to be built, it's pretty straightforward in terms of playgrounds and pickleball courts. That that's pretty easy. There's definitely specialized work for the skate park that requires people that are really skilled for concrete because it's an all concrete plaza.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So definitely have some skilled laborers doing that. But I think for the most part, it should be fairly straightforward to build, but I think funding is gonna be the biggest challenge.
Speaker 1:You know, I I've I've played every racket sport there is except pickleball. So Gonna try it. You you got eight courts there. Is that what you said? Proposing eight courts.
Speaker 1:Yes. Eight courts. Okay. Oh. And they You gotta get with it, Cliff.
Speaker 2:That's the it's the fastest growing sport in America.
Speaker 1:I know. I gotta get out there and do that. Mark, why why is investment in parks and public spaces so important to communities like Juneau?
Speaker 2:Well, it's really, big for quality of life, for all of us here in Juneau to have those recreation spaces, those park spaces. But it's also great for property values. We know that neighborhoods near parks, have increased property values. And just getting people active and involved is better for our health and and better for the economy in lots of ways. But, this area of town is just when we look at the whole town of of Juneau, it's pretty underserved in terms of parks.
Speaker 2:So we really wanna spread parks all around our community, and this area has been, not as well served as other parts of the community.
Speaker 1:Nice. Okay. So, again, for the event that's, that's happening this weekend, when and and, what time do you want folks to show up? Sure. It starts
Speaker 2:Chris has a schedule.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it starts at noon, and it starts off with from noon to two. It's a community barbecue. Nice Come on down down, grab a burger and something to drink. We're gonna have the design team there, and we're showing off the 35% design.
Speaker 3:We'd So like public comment on the 35% design. And, you know, keep in mind, we'd love to hear from the disc golfers, the pickleballers, just the general, families that live in the area. But, you know, as I said, this park is fairly, inclusive in terms of what it has. It's not just gonna be a draw to the Lower Mendenhall. It's gonna be to throughout the entire community.
Speaker 3:So with this new skate park, obviously, we wanna hear from the skate skaters in town. And in the past, with all of our public engagement, we've had, the design team for the skate park, New Line Skate Parks out of California. They've been attending remotely. They'll actually be in town. So we have two pro skaters that are gonna be in town.
Speaker 3:And after we do the two hour public community outreach as part of the park day, then we're getting into a, like, an all on all out special skateboard skate jam. So this could be really fun. So that'll start around 02:00. We have Canton Russell, who is a pro skater. He was a pro skater for about twelve years, traveled all over the world.
Speaker 3:He's known for his gaps, which means he skates well, he used to. He's he's aging out
Speaker 1:a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But he he was known for wheeling off of, you know, 12 sets of stairs and over rails. So he was known for for his gap riding.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And, of course, he was a champion and, you know, well known throughout the skating. He's from SoCal. And then we also have Brandon Turner, who is a unique story. He was with the air force for or he was an air force family, I believe, and he's gonna be the best person to tell the story. But he he had a troubled youth and got into a fair bit of trouble through skateboarding, but then he turned around his life and made it much more positive through skateboarding.
Speaker 3:So just recently in 2020, he won the best trick award at the age of 38. So, know, a lot of skaters, you think they're 16, maybe 22, and they're aging out. Yeah. But he's really turned turned his life around and used skateboarding as a way of, you know, just just becoming a better person and healing. So, anyway, so, we have a learn to skate session.
Speaker 3:We have a skate jam where you get to ride with Canton and and Brandon at the skate park. And then we're gonna have a best trick competition best trick competition. We're gonna have DJs. We're gonna have a live band, I believe, Views playing.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:And just a chance to hang out at the pipeline and celebrate skating because this is a big deal to have these two pro skaters here in town.
Speaker 1:No kidding.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it's gonna be a big event, but definitely it's not all skate focused. We'd love to see the pickleballers and anyone that supports parks and recreation to come on down, you know, from noon to two, then stick around and watch the events and watch the skating. And if you've never done it, come down, learn from learn from some pros.
Speaker 2:I'm not getting out there. Come on. You're not that old. No. No.
Speaker 1:One one of
Speaker 2:the cool things with this new park cliff is we're gonna have the first covered playground in Juneau.
Speaker 1:Perfect. That's what we need here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We need it for these rainy days. Right? Get get your kids out of the house and and get them playing. So it's really got a lot for everybody.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Mark, thanks for the, great work with Parks and rec and Chris for the design. Appreciate you both sharing the story here today.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Hopefully, we'll see everybody Saturday from noon to six.