BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Kern County celebrated the grand opening of the Heritage Park Beautification and Enhancement project in east Bakersfield on Wednesday morning.
- Video shows improvements to Heritage Park
- A mural at the park honors Alejandro Vargas and Angel Berumen, two boys killed in car crashes on Niles Street.
- Their mothers expressed gratitude for the memorial, which includes renovations to the skate park and new murals.
- The $4.2 million project was funded by the California Department of Transportation's Clean California Local Grant Program.
Improvements to this skate park now honor the lives of two boys killed in car crashes on Niles Street.
You can see the initials of Alejandro Vargas and Angel Berumen, and their moms expressed their gratitude to see their boys' memory kept alive at the Heritage Park grand opening.
This is the day Angel Berumen got his first skateboard.
He was learning how to do kick flips for the first time outside of the Heritage Park skate park.
Alejandro Vargas did the same, frequently skating at Heritage Park with his friends.
"Both of our kids learned to skate here," Josie Rosel, Alejandro Vargas's mom, said.
The two skaters connected through similar tragedies on the same street just three years apart.
Alejandro Vargas was hit by a car and killed on Niles Street in late June 2019 at 13 years old. I
n late January 2022, 16-year-old Angel Berumen was killed in a hit and run crash less than half a mile away from where Vargas was killed.
"At the end of the day, we don't want them to be forgotten," Jasmine Burleson, Angel Berumen's mom, said.
Now, their names, forever marked on one of the quarter pipes, will give them a permanent memorial at the skate park they loved so much.
"I love the fact that they included our children into the skate park because Ale loved to skate here," Rosel said.
In addition to the mural for Vargas and Berumen, the county renovated the skate park, cleaning up graffiti and adding new murals to the park with the message: Skate not Hate.
"If Angel were still here, he'd be over here, watching this happen and being super excited. He'd be all up and down these,"Burleson said.
The California Department of Transportation's Clean California Local Grant Program funded the $4.2 million project, which opened to the public on Wednesday.
"We are focused entirely on improving the infrastructure, especially on the eastside where we know there hasn't been as much," Leticia Perez, Kern County District 5 Supervisor, said.
Additional improvements include 68 new trees, new shade structures and playgrounds, along with these improvements:
- New restroom
- LED lighting for public safety and security
- ADA compliant walking paths
- Age-appropriate children’s play equipment
- Renovation of a worn soccer field
- Sustainable landscaping and irrigation features
- New amphitheater
"Our children need safe spaces. Our families need to know each other. We need to be able to depend on each other," Perez added.
While the moms now live without their sons, they stay connected to support each other and continue to advocate for change so no other mother has to experience what they have.
Because the mural helps keep the boys' memories alive, the moms ask the community to avoid tagging it with graffiti.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
