Improving the skate park at Grijalva Park was an arduous task for neighborhood leaders who wanted to give teens a place where they could skate legally.
The skate park was built about three years ago but was mostly an open concrete pad without any ramps, rails or other equipment for teens to practice their tricks and maneuvers.
It took money from an anonymous donor - who contributed it in memory of the youngest victim in Tucson's Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting tragedy, Christina-Taylor Green - to give neighborhood teens the skate park they've desired.
On Saturday, neighborhood leaders and residents, along with city officials, celebrated the completion and dedication of the newly named Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Skate Park, at 1855 W. Drexel Road.
The Midvale Park Neighborhood Association worked with the neighborhood's homeowners association, Tucson Parks and Recreation Department, Tucson Parks Foundation, Tucson Unified School District and the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation to complete the facility.
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"This is a real need. We needed to get these kids to this park," said Midvale Park Neighborhood Association president Joe Miller.
Hector Cordova, 15, agreed.
Without it, "we probably would skate in illegal spots," Cordova said.
The neighborhood received $7,500 from the donor, along with another $7,500 from the homeowners association, although the new equipment only cost $6,800, Miller said.
The neighborhood will use the rest of the money to help pay for new soccer and baseball fields at Grijalva Park, along with a walking path and other enhancements, he said.
The new equipment includes a fun box, which has ramps and a railing, and an ollie box, which is a platform-like structure. The skate park already had some equipment prior to the additions.
Before the anonymous donation, the neighborhood association searched for grants to pay for the improvements, but was unsuccessful, Miller said.
"You could really feel we were getting frustrated," he said.
After the donation, neighborhood leaders gathered more than 50 signatures needed to name the park in honor of Christina-Taylor, who was 9 years old when she was killed in the Jan. 8 tragedy that took six lives and injured 13 people at a northwest-side supermarket.
Miller said the generosity of the donor, perseverance of the neighborhood and its emphasis on serving youths represents the spirit of Christina-Taylor.
"She really believed things were possible" in life, he said.
On Friday evening, a few skateboarders endured the summer heat to jump the ramps and rails at the park.
Cordova and his friend Marcos Ramirez, 16, sat on a bench watching them.
Although they weren't skating that night, the two said they use the park every day. "It's a nice skate park," Cordova said.
Ramirez said the nearest skate park is probably Santa Rita at East 22nd Street and South Third Avenue, south of downtown.
"We would have to take the city bus," he said.
Contact reporter Jamar Younger at jyounger@azstarnet.com or 573-4115.
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