Fine, We'll Build Our Own Skateparks Then
Because not everyone is content to wait around until the Earth's natural geologic activity outpaces Seattle Process by burping up a lava flow miraculously formed into the shape of a skatepark, Grindline and River City Skatepark are going it alone. Sorta. They're attempting to put together a privately developed public skate park in the heart of South Park (because, yeah, we were wondering about "River City" too). When it's finished, there will be a huge bowl section, an extensive street park, and offices for the skatepark design company Grindline. They just got finished clearing the lot.
When Phase 1 is completed at the end of the year, the street skating plaza will be in place. Phases 2 and 3 will build out the rest after a bunch of money is raised via grants, fundraisers (including one with Warren Miller scheduled for December), and various relationships to neighborhood groups like the SODO Rotary Club and the environmental non-profit ECOSS. This is all great and Seattlest loves seeing people come together with neighborhood groups to fund skateparks in Seattle, but we're getting tired of every group that wants to pour a little (or a shit ton of) concrete having to scrape around for money for two or five years.
Oh yeah, the Parks Department. The Parks Department's public meetings on its plan for a city-wide system of skateparks have occurred and the deadline to send them email on the subject was earlier this week. The taskforce is currently digesting the results of those and should communicate something soon. Hopefully, they'll announce a groundbreaking.
