Visalia skate park shut down, riders remain hopeful

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A place skateboarders call home in Visalia has been shut down. It's a skate park built from the ground up, by the people who ride it.

If home is where the heart is, this one is covered in concrete, and the pulse is faint.

"It's really heartbreaking to be out here," Skate-Fe founder Lucas Davenport said. "This is where our friendship is."

Davenport is sitting in the middle of the house he started building two years ago. "This is what we do; this is what we love to do," he said.

Omar Withers helped. "It doesn't feel real; it's still like a dream," he said.

And so did Eric Sanchez. "Sad and surreal, definitely," he said.

It's a sad day because security has moved in.

"They're doing their job, so we just gotta go with the flow for now," Withers said.

A bank owns the property -- 8.4 acres of land. It's up for sale, and skateboarding is not allowed anymore.

"Why are we losing it? Because they don't want us here. That's all good," Sanchez said.

Next door, a truck driving school is still trucking on the same lot owned by the same bank.

"It's kind of sad to see that they're going to shut down, you know? I watch them skate every now and then," truck driver Steven Garduno said.

They raised thousands of dollars to buy materials and build. They had permission to do it from the owner, before he lost the property, and from people who live nearby.

"They made something out of nothing. It was boring to see this place, but there's something now," neighbor Edward Vasquez said.

"I'm grateful for the two years we had here, but it's still young, and there's still so much more room," Davenport said.

Still, the guys aren't ready to give up. Home is still in one piece, and the heart is still beating.

"If there's a will, there's a way," Sanchez said. "Find a way to raise the money. We've done it before for the concrete."

The skateboarders were told the lot is worth $1.4 million and is owned by Tri Counties Bank. The bank has not returned our phone calls. Security says a fence is going up on Monday.