June 2007
Monthly Archive
Thu 28 Jun 2007
Posted by seth johnson under
General[12] Comments
Several people emailed me with links to the news story about the arrest of a suspect in the Round Rock public skatepark vandalism case that motivated the city to shut down the bowl until the official grand opening of the facility.
It also looks like hot water might be in store for the police officer in Hot Springs, AR, who was captured in a YouTube video roughing up skateboarders on Go Skateboarding Day. A Little Rock TV station also has coverage of the million + viewed YouTube video along with a poll asking if visitors agree with the treatment of the skateboarder.
Wed 20 Jun 2007
Posted by seth johnson under
skatepark[36] Comments
Long time Houston skaters Barry Blumenthal and Jason Espeseth have succeeded in rounding up the last of the private donations needed to build the city’s gargantuan downtown concrete public skatepark. They’ve accomplished what no other skatepark advocacy group on Earth has achieved to date… $2 million in donations raised without any public funds going to build the facility. The city donated $4 million in land, but no money for construction.
To put this in perspective, the Black Pearl Skatepark (private, pay-for-play) cost $2 million. Here’s the design created by Grindline. Here’s a story in the Houston Chronicle talking about the skatepark fundraising success.
Wed 20 Jun 2007
The internationally-observed day of skateboarding is scheduled to occur tomorrow. Local events have been organized by area skate shops and a restaurant. Red Bull will fuel competitors chasing the best trick title at the Austin High Ditch.
In case you were thinking going to see Shrek 3 would be a great way to celebrate Go Skateboarding Day, don’t. This third installment really doesn’t live up to the quality put into those previous two cartoon films. Just an FYI.
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Tue 5 Jun 2007
Skaters living in the suburb northwest of Austin are organizing to lobby Cedar Park to include skatepark funds in an upcoming bond election. Darrell Lowrance, who rallied skaters to great success in Round Rock, sent me this note on the topic:
The city of Cedar Park will be holding a bond input meeting at 6:30PM on Weds, June 6, 2007 at the Cedar Park Public Library, 550 Discovery Blvd. We still have time to lobby for another skatepark in our area. Some park improvements have already be suggested, but nothing has been finalized yet.
Skateboarders lacked any representation in the process when Cedar Park previously considered a public skatepark. With a strong showing at this bond input meeting, it’ll increase the likelihood that NIMBY opposition will be defeated later on. In 2005, Cedar Park conducted a survey asking residents what Parks and Recreation improvements they would like to see, and the results showed 22% of respondents wanted a skatepark. So not everyone up there is a hater.
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