Trevor Staples, leader of the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark, spoke Friday afternoon about the multi-year effort to get to the point of breaking ground on a skatepark at Vets Park.
AnnArbor.com was there for the groundbreaking ceremony to capture Staples' speech. He said his group has raised about $180,000 from private sources, plus $400,000 from the county and $300,000 from the state. The city of Ann Arbor plans to contribute up to $424,312 for the construction.
Construction is expected to begin quickly with the goal of completing all concrete work by this fall and some landscaping and other finishing touches wrapping up next spring.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.