TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — After a decade of advocacy, fundraising, and community support, the groundbreaking for Cushing Street Skate Park has arrived. Caleb Gutierrez, the project's founder, first brought the idea to the Tucson City Council in 2016 pitching the vision directly to city leaders.
"I'm here to get help from the City of Tucson to see what I can do to build this skate park," Gutierrez said in the meeting.
In 2025, the city approved funding and construction of the skate park.
Now standing on the dirt where the park will soon be, Gutierrez says it's hard to believe.
"Kind of nervous, still feeling like it's a dream in a way, kind of floaty. I'm excited," Gutierrez said. "I'm excited that it's finally breaking ground and because last year we had a groundbreaking day and it got a pause till a year and here we are. So it's a little nerve-wracking but it's awesome."
The park will be Tucson's first ever shaded skate park, situated beneath the I-10 freeway on Cushing Street.
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The City of Tucson had live music and celebrated with the community to mark this major milestone.
"As a newly elected council member at the height of the pandemic, Caleb and other community members came back to Mayor and Council having already built a grassroots support and raised real money for the local skateboarding community. That told me everything I needed to know about how serious this was," said Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz.
After years of public support, fundraising efforts, and multiple funding contributions, more than $2.6 million was raised to bring the park to life.
According to the City, "Major contributions include $1.5M from City Framework and the City Investment Plan; $300,000 from the Tohono O’odham Nation grant; $250,000 each from the Mayor’s Office and the Ward 1 participatory budgeting process - “Budget De La Gente”; $200,000 from Rio Nuevo; $100,000 from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe; and $40,258.67 to date in donations."
Skaters of all ages are eager to use the new facility. Quad roller skater Joycee Quevedo said the moment has been a long time coming.
"I'm glad it's happening, but it's taken so long," Quevedo said.
For Gutierrez, skating is more than a hobby — it is a part of life. Skating is giving him life lessons in addition to bringing the community together.
"I just remember learning the process, it's really hard to skateboard and falling and learning new tricks over and over trying to land something or you know, just not give up and like push yourself," Gutierrez said. "So it's kind of like the same thing with this project being in the skateboard culture, not giving up and just keep going."
Quevedo has the same mindset.
"You make a mistake and then you learn from it and like that's what I love about roller skating is that I can fall and then kind of analyze my fall and see what I did wrong, and then learn from that and grow," Quevedo said.
Skaters can expect to hit the ramps by the end of the year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
