[Vision2020] How Local Teens Beat Sarah Palin In The Battle Of The Wasilla Skate Park

[Saundra Lund]

The entire article is worth reading:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1597276/20081016/story.jhtml

Here's an excerpt:
"Our parents brought up the idea of going to the city to ask about the
chances of getting a real, concrete skate park built. The number of kids
skating was growing like crazy, and with all the baseball diamonds, hockey
rinks, and tennis courts around, it seemed like a reasonable request. 

Apparently, the City of Wasilla did not agree with us. Bummer. Sarah Palin,
the mayor of our small town, informed us that a skate park simply would not
fit in the budget. 

Oddly enough, a few years later, we heard rumors of a multimillion-dollar
hockey rink that was going to fit in the budget. Now, I don't have anything
against hockey, I played my whole life, but there were already several
places to play hockey in Wasilla. Of course, us dumb kids wouldn't take "no"
for an answer. A few of my friends and our parents attended city hall
meetings every week. Eventually, our persistence paid off. Mayor Palin made
what could be considered a "safe bet" when she suggested that if we could
raise half the money, the city would match it and we would start
construction. We were very happy and very determined. 

The "Wasilla Skate Park Committee" went to work immediately. Over the next
few months, we held bake sales, car washes, raffles and six or seven benefit
concerts. We convinced local businesses to donate goods, services or labor
to help support us. We even put up one of those giant, lame thermometers in
city hall and colored in every $5,000 we made. And, incredibly enough, we
raised roughly $42,000. Not too bad for some punk kids in a small town in
Alaska. 

I really don't think that Palin thought we could do it. She was certainly
surprised when we filled in the red ball at the top of that stupid
thermometer. And boy, did she have a surprise for us. 

After all of our hard work, she informed us that the project was going to
have to be delayed ... indefinitely. That slippery little skate park had
gone off and slipped right out of the city budget again. The Wasilla Skate
Park Committee was not too pleased, and once again, we were back at city
council meetings every week."