Christian Businessmen Help

Build Skate Park in Pacific

By Jim Day

    Joe Mueller did not intend to spearhead a private effort to build a skate park in Pacific, Missouri. It just sort of happened.
    “I had heard that the city aldermen were discussing putting in a skate park at the city park, so I went to the meeting to voice my support and offer any sort of help I could,” says Mueller. He and his wife, Andrea, both in their mid-twenties, have been Pacific residents since December 2005. Both enjoy the small-town atmosphere of Pacific but have noticed that the local kids seem to have nothing much to do when not in school. “A lot of the kids hang out at the city park, which is just across the street from our house,” says Andrea. “But they are obviously too old for playgrounds and they don’t all want to be involved in the typical team sports.”
   Joe, a 12-year skating veteran, had noticed the lack of skating spots in Pacific. He and Andrea had already made several trips to a skate park in Jefferson County, often taking along a group of Pacific kids who wanted somewhere to skate. They were all excited when they heard of the possibility of a skate park in town. What they learned after attending a couple of city meetings, however, was disappointing.
    “The city is not opposed to the skate park,” says Joe. “In fact, there are a couple of aldermen who are strong supporters. The problem, as usual, is money.”
    Pacific is a small town with a small town’s budget and plenty of needs. Recreational projects, though popular, just do not always have funding. In the skate park situation, the city was willing to donate land and oversee construction if funding could be raised through private donations. The local Rotary Club offered to do the fund-raising.
    While the concept is appreciated, the timing is an issue. Because the Rotary Club is still in the process of gaining its non-profit legal status, it cannot yet receive donations. This delay means that fund-raising cannot even begin for several months, pushing the likelihood of actually beginning construction to summer of 2008 at the soonest. In the meantime, Joe says, skaters are left with nowhere to skate for another year.
    Finding a legal, safe place to skate is often difficult even in more metropolitan areas, Joe points out. “Skaters want a challenge,” he says, “so stairs, curbs, concreted areas with slopes are always appealing.” Of course, the problem is that these areas are usually privately owned business-fronts, and the last thing most business owners want is a group of teenagers hanging around outside the front door.
    Skate parks are really the only places skaters can go to skate freely without disturbing others. In Pacific, sidewalks and an old roller hockey pad in the park were the only options. When city police began enforcing a 1960’s ordinance prohibiting skateboarding on sidewalks, the options diminished even more.
    Mueller and his wife started meeting informally with several of the skaters and parents. “We were just looking for a way to help move things along,” explains Mueller. “After we heard the city’s position, we knew we had to be the ones to really promote this skate park happening. Then we had a God-send.”
    Jeff Pahlmore, a local businessman, heard about the situation and offered to donate the use of a vacant lot he owns for a temporary skate park. Joe Mueller says it is ideal. “It is centrally located, so the kids can walk there from school or wherever,” he says. “And it is big enough to put in a few different types of ramps, maybe a half-pipe, and some rails.”
    Since Pahlmore offered the use of his land, things have taken off. Pahlmore himself is seeing that the land is cleared and fenced. Joe Mueller and Marty Hildebrand, a local parent, hold weekly meetings with skaters, parents, and anyone who wants to be involved. Their job is to come up with a design for the park and to get the necessary funds and materials for building it.
    Their approach for fund-raising is a rather unique one. The group, which they have named C.O.P.S. (City of Pacific Skaters), is just an informal grassroots organization, so receiving cash donations is complicated at best. Instead, they offer work in exchange for donated materials or labor of the skate park. The skaters themselves do the work.
    “They are literally paying for this park with their time and sweat,” Mueller says. “And they’re learning the value of it, the responsibility, the cost.”
    “Skateboarding is not a typical team sport,” explains Mueller. “It can be very group-oriented, but it is, overall, an individual challenge. The person you compete with is yourself.” Because of its individualistic nature and lack of formal structure and organization, skateboarding has gained a somewhat dark reputation as the sport of loners and rebels.
    A joint effort to build a skate park can change all that, points out Mueller. “These kids working together to make this park happen is creating a family, a team spirit,” he says. “They are learning that as ambassadors of skateboarding, everything they do will influence what people think of the sport in general and will influence this park happening or not happening.”
    So far, C.O.P.S has put in hours pulling weeds at a lavender farm in Eureka and next will be doing some rehab work on a downtown Pacific building in exchange for lumber. The group hopes to be able to get concrete or asphalt and labor donated - in exchange for work, of course - to be the base for the park, and then build ramps and rails out of the materials they have earned.
    As the son of property and small-business owners and as a Christian, Mueller says he has learned to respect private property and to value what belongs to others. “Respect for others often seems to conflict with the typical skate mentality,” he says. “But it is not a necessary conflict.” Mueller hopes that the C.O.P.S. will learn this truth, too, through the experience of earning and building their own private place to skate.

Joe was home educated from fifth grade through high school, and afterwards studied business at St. Charles Community College. He is the General Manager of Arco Lawn Equipment in Ballwin, a 30-year-old family owned business which he and his brother Tony now operate. Andrea is a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer. Joe and Andrea have a one-year-old daughter and a second baby due in November. They are active members of Rockwood Harvest Assembly of God where Joe plays drums and Andrea sings and plays guitar for the worship team.

C.O.P.S. hopes to have the park up and running by late fall. Then they will turn their attention to publicity and raising funds for a permanent city skate park. They are also looking into getting their own tax-exempt status to make donations easier.
    “The temporary park will put the eyes of the city on us,” says Mueller. “If C.O.P.S. can build and maintain this site, and show respect to the business owners of the city, I think we’ll see a permanent skate park here.”
    To contact Mueller or C.O.P.S, call (314) 210-0276 or visit their website: www.skateptown.com.