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I voted with the Council to develop a new permanent skate park next to the San Lorenzo River. This will replace the Temporary skate park we opened at the old "Fun Spot."

I voted for two major projects, the temporary skate park and a teen center, both of which were opened during my term on the City Council. These are very encouraging steps in the right direction but, we need to do more:

We need to:

• Insure that neither of these valuable activities for our teens fall victim to cuts due to budget shortfalls.

• Encourage more communication about the needs and desires of our youth.

• Ask the Youth Advisory Board to reach out to the youth community and bring input and advise to our Commissions and to the Council.

When considering matters concerning our youth, there's one thing we should keep in mind as a community: It's important when we make commitments to our young people, that they are commitments we can keep while they are still young enough to appreciate them.