IRONWOOD, MI - Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - Yesterday, this reporter was in Ashland, so I took some pictures their skate park and what surrounds it.

Ashland's skatepark is in the center of the City of Ashland on Vaughn Street. Adjacent to the park is a baseball diamond, and on the other side of the baseball field is a kids play-land. There is ample paved parking next to each and ever segment of the park area. To the east of the skate park is a pavilion and another baseball field.

Ashland's park is filled with ramps and rails that are all custom made to fit the park. These professionally constructed ramps are well maintained and properly installed. The pavilion to the east of the park has rest room facilities. The entire park area is well-lit and kept under constant video surveillance.

Now... let's take a look at Ironwood's facilities...

Oh, that's right, we don't have a skate park.

NOTE: The only mention of Ironwood's skate park at last night's City Commission meeting was by Steve Frank, when he questioned the deal City Manager Scott Erickson struck with Moyle Construction for "our" skate park. In exchange for allowing the Wal-Mart contractor to dump thousands of yards of construction debris onto City-owned open land on Ayer Street, Erickson negotiated a deal to get a 100' x 100' slab from Moyle... no, that's a 50'x100' slab... no, it's enough concrete for a 50'x100' slab... no, it's the promise of enough concrete for a 50'x100' slab provided the City follows Moyle's guidelines and timeline, no...

According to Erickson, at a very recent meeting, the skate park committee is supposed to have held another car wash to raise money to build the park this past weekend. According to Erickson it will cost in excess of $120,000 to equip the 50'x100' park. He claims that the City currently has $22,000 earmarked for the park. Isn't it odd that no mention of the committee's progress -- in fact, no mention of the park at all -- was made in Erickson's Manager's Report to the Commission?

Erickson's job performance was to be evaluated in closed session at last night's City Commission meeting.

Jim Albert