Seattlest: Fine, We'll Build Our Own Skateparks Then

Kate

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:22:20 -0800

Seattle sounds like an amazing place for people who love skateparks... I just read this post about vancouver skateparks closing and the person wants to know if anyone has any ideas on how to get more parks going. It sounds like he could use some help from others in the skating community, so if you have any ideas, I encourage you to join the conversation...

John Hildebrand

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:37:16 -0800

Chris from Grindline here... The River City Skatepark is about people taking matters into their own hands instead of expecting the City of Seattle to do something for us. I appreciate the hard, thankless work of the SPAC and other skatepark advocates in Seattle, but at the same time it feels very satisfying to build a public skatepark in Seattle with no involvement from the City Parks Department whatsoever. Power to the people!

Dan

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:07:38 -0800

Absolutely right. There are potshots at the group working closely with the city in this post that don't belong there and I apologize and hereby promise to evangalize that gang in the future. In the past I've correctly identified the culprit at Greenlake.

MLJ

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:36:22 -0800

I love River City and what Mark and Co. are doing down there. I just wish pieces like this could applaud efforts like River City (and the recent newspaper blurb on Marginal Way) without dumping on the work other skaters are doing with the city. This is the third piece I’ve read like this and it’s just odd to me that no one seems to recognize that we're planning an entire system, which is way different than building a single skatepark. We're being bombarded by negativity from the opponents of the Greenlake skatepark, while campaigning hard for a reasonable SeaSk8 replacement deal, and doing things like evangelizing skateparks through community outreach to every district council in the city. This is all being done by a small group of volunteers. It should also be noted that both River City and Marginal Way have benefitted greatly from our relationships with the City Council and the Mayor's office. The people who are slogging it out with the city are really taking it on the chin. Not like I think the process isn’t ridiculous and moving at a glacial pace... but let's try not to downplay and dismiss the efforts of the people who are doing the very unglamorous and difficult dirty advocacy work in an effort to promote the sexier projects. It's hard enough to get people involved as it is. None of this stuff is easy. Everyone deserves equal respect. Thanks. MLJ