EZ-7 Ditch in HoustonWith the steadily-rising price of plywood suppressing new-ramp construction, it looks as though 2005 might be a breakout year for DIY concrete skate projects. In Austin alone, I’ve seen small additions made to that slab by Town Lake and that ditch. Meanwhile, skaters in Houston have succeeded in getting the city to officially designate the EZ-7 ditch as a public skatepark and they’ve got the go-ahead to build skate extensions at that spot. They’ve already built the cool transition-to-wall setup pictured here. Not to be outdone, some Austin skaters have now begun a covert project beneath a bridge that looks to have the potential to become a TexMex Burnside. Sam, the eldest of the Sewing Machine Brothers, is coordinating that project. Interested contributors should call him @ 773-6549 to participate.

Following the skating-on-concrete thread… While Austin has been moving glacially slow to build the right kind of public skatepark, Round Rock seems to be supercharged to build the wrong one. Upon reviewing a video tape of the City Council meeting I spoke at two weeks ago, I’ve found out that after the skateboarding representatives left the meeting, a pretty insane concept was revealed by the Parks and Recreation representatives. Round Rock Parks and Recreation, a department within a city that is absolutely FLUSH with cash and resources, is seriously proposing that the city purchase the used prefabricated playground equipment currently being called the Texas Ski Ranch Skatepark. Setting aside the long and rich history of problems with that facility, I find it astonishing that Round Rock would buy USED playground equipment for its kids. Are they shopping Goodwill to equip the highschool football team with used helmets and shoulder pads? It’s hard to believe how they’ve marginalized skateboarding and chosen to elevate baseball and other team sports that only allow participation by the most athletic of students. Any Round Rock citizens who care about getting a street plaza or other type of quality public skateboarding facility up there must hook up with Darrell (djlhome(at)gmail.com) to rally support for Round Rock doing the right thing for its skateboarders.

On the plus side of this Round Rock craziness, San Marcos skateboarders could really come out ahead. Not only will they soon have the San Marcos Public (concrete) Skatepark built by the city, if Texas Ski Ranch can palm that albatross off on some penny-pinching town, rumor has it that they’re planning on replacing it with a street plaza styled concrete facility.