After considering the idea for seven years, the city recreation department broke ground on Earth Day 2009 for a public skateboard park. The $350,000, 10,000-square foot park occupies a sloping lot, formerly site of a tobacco auction house, in Durham Central Park. A story goes that Mayor Bill Bell, stopping by one Sunday soon after its opening in the fall, received a round of applause from a crowd of skateboarders enjoying the new amenity.