Calvia town hall is to invest in a skateboarding park.

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Calvia is to spend 350,000 euros on a skateboarding park. Mayor Alfonso Rodríguez says that the investment will make Calvia a leader for skateboarding, which is set to become an Olympic sport in 2020. The park will be in the Santa Ponsa Galatzo urbanisation (referred to locally as the "Pantera Rosa", i.e. Pink Panther) and will take as its inspiration the large Skate Agora in Badalona (Barcelona province).

Fernando Alcaraz, the deputy mayor for citizen participation and youth affairs, has been holding talks with the Balearic association for skaters (in order to get professional advice) and has been to Badalona to learn about experiences there.

The Galatzo park will be bigger than Badalona and will be certified to host Street League competitions. The town hall reasons that the "kids" will have somewhere for skateboarding that can also attract professional trainers. Being on the Street League circuit will mean local, national and international competitions. A benefit of this will be in tackling the effects of tourism seasonality.

Although the scheme has been met with some criticism, the town hall says that the new park is in response to demand, while existing facilities aren't good enough for this particular urban sport. Chief among the critics has been Isabel Manresa, who became a councillor at the end of September. She is with Podemos Calvia Ponent. Alcaraz is from Si Se Puede Calvia, which is sort of Podemos. The different factions don't see eye to eye on various issues, and skateboarding is one of them. Manresa questions the suitability of the project at a time of "post-crisis".