Hmmmmm…street ollies and kickflips, all the way back in 1985??? Note we skated everything back then. Why has this changed?

Also check out the clip from “Police Academy 4″ (circa 1986), where the Powell “vert” team is ollieing down some big stair sets. We didn’t discrimate between tranny and street. Neither do most 8-11 year old kids today that haven’t been brainwashed by the skate media yet (my son and his friends included).

http://www.youtube.com

Note: search for police academy 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0×8J1V0nCk

The photos tell the real story– street skaters will always find street spots more appealing than skatepark street courses, for all sorts of reasons. It’s also why most street skaters don’t even bother getting involved in building skateparks. It’s just like the hardcore tranny skaters who desire empty pools over skatepark bowls, but there’s one HUGE difference– Street spots are practically everywhere. Empty pools are extremely rare, even non-existent.

When a town doesn’t have a tranny, most pure tranny skaters quit skating. But when a town doesn’t have a street course, well, street skaters just continue skate the real stuff they find more appealing anyway. Some hardcore street skaters have even defined Mabel Davis as “crap” (thus proving my point). Heck, street skaters can spend hours riding a “manual pad” at a run-down gas station. In some ways, I envy them. I’d love to be able to get a thrill from riding something so small, simple, and commonplace.

Which is why all skateparks IMO need tranny.

Street skaters have already lobbied successfully in some towns for city-sanctioned “skate zones” at some of their favorites spots. They’ve even gotten “skate stoppers” removed. If I wanted a pure “street plaza”, I’d lobby the city to build a real street plaza, with ledges, stairs, rails, planters, benches, picnic tables (all skate-spec’d of course) and get it defined as a “dual purpose, skate zone”. The city would get a real street plaza, and I’d be “keeping it real” at the same time.

Sort of a 2-for-1 deal. It sounds like an easier sell to me than even a pure skatepark. It’s an idea whose time has come. If I were a street skater, I’d be working the idea BIG TIME. Just remember though, like Jared said, be prepared to spend 3-4 years making it happen. There might even be a real “street plaza” already in the works that could be built with skaters in mind so it could might happen sooner (actually I believe Seth has already been looking into this). It wouldn’t even have to be designated as a “skatepark” in the budget, since you really don’t want a “skatepark” anyway; you just want a good place to skate without being hassled by the cops.

– jared

Thanks for the info. Its amazingly hard to find the right people to contact. Ive emailed Round Rock officials but have gotten zero response. The fact that we even have public parks is a huge accomplishment. And the efforts are greatly appreciated. By no means am I saying the street courses we now have are total “crap”. But there are alot of problems with them. We can always strive to do better and Im assuming that is everyones goal here. Im not dusty, but I do own land, pay taxes and vote. Thanks again for the email. Hopefully “ATX” will see your info too, as he is admittingly more knowledgable than I and willing to put in the time to keep our skate community progressive in a positive way.

Liquid, the concrete miniramp is to be hosted in Patterson Park which is two blocks east of I35 on Airport blvd. More info will be forthcoming.

Seth