Ribbon cutting for Teen Center

More than 50 people turned out Thursday morning to open the new Valley of the Moon Teen Center – a fact which project supporter Art Fichtenberg called “a little bit overwhelming.”
“We had expected originally that this would be a gathering of six to eight people, we’d take a picture and then we would be on our way,” Fichtenberg said to loud laughter.
The $1 million, six-years-in-the-making center, on Highway 12 between Mountain and Fetters avenues, officially opens today. The orange stucco building features a gym, classrooms and computer center clustered around an airy main room and commercial kitchen “so we will definitely be able to cook a healthy meal every day at 5 o’clock,” center Executive Director Stefanie Shackelford said.
“I’m so excited the kids are going to have a brand new place to be … just a fantastic, new, clean, safe building for them to be in,” Shackelford, said. “We have a basketball court outside that we didn’t have before, we have a futures room full of computers … those are things we didn’t have and we are excited to have.”
Shackelford’s enthusiasm was shared by county Redevelopment Manager Boris Sztorch, whose agency provided $235,000 of the costs.
“We’re really excited. I mean, this is the first big project in the Springs that we had a hand in. The rest of them were kind of small scale,” Sztorch said. “I think this is going to stimulate more development. … This is the first of several projects that we hope to roll out in the coming year.”