Comments on City Skate Park Proposal Released

Allow me to quote Fnarf from the Cycling post:

"Does the city have any other plans to accomodate other tiny, scofflaw minorities?"

Well, if I'm going to be quoted, at least let me add that I think skateparks are a great idea. This seems like an overly ambitious plan, but it's relatively cheap for what you get, and it's a huge boon to the city. Skaters are cool, and kids need stuff to do that's not prohibited and not excessively organized by their parents every step of the way.

And no, I'm not a skater, and never have been. I've skated one time, on the board of one of the famous Bopo Boys about a million years ago, about twenty feet in total, and fell on my face.

What happened to DIY?

Jeff - More kids skateboard now than participate in organized Little League baseball yet how many baseball fields sit empty for 9 months of the year?

According to news reports, almost 50 skateboarders have been killed in the US by automobiles over the last 12 months.

Skateboarding can be practiced year round and skateparks provide a safe contained environment for the activity.

Also, the Marginal Way and River City links don't seem to be working.

OK, I was being a fuckstick and trying to play devil's advocate.

I love the idea of more kids getting into skaiting and the idea of little skate spots dotting our city is an awesome one.

However, painting all cyclists as unlawful scoflaws (as Fnarf did) is akin to saying all skaters are glue-huffing graffitti vandals. Neither is entirely true.

The percentage of cyclists who disobey traffic laws is a hell of a lot higher than the percentage of skaters who huff glue. If I had to guess, I'd say "85% versus 0.1%".

Just wait, the neighborhood nimbys will start screaming about how skateboarders and graffitti go hand in hand (actually, they already have).

Your argument against cyclists has no basis in fact and is based on your own personal opinion. Just the same as the neighborhood nimby's who are trying to scuttle the Greenlake skatepark over noise concerns.

Get over it.

This is a good idea. Plus, if you have a bunch of parks, it'll spread out the skaters and reduce each park's impact (ie, noise, graffiti, empty Elmer's glue bottle litter, etc.)

Damn whipper-snappers and their "skate parks." In my day we got chased out of the local mini-mart parking for skating, had to huff the propellant out of whip cream cans at work, and masturbated all alone while we wept. Now kids can do it all in one place (well maybe not the masturbating part).

Pope: FYI: the fred meijer in ballard sells whippits if you want to climb back on the horse.

skatepark plan link (first in blog) doesn't work in Firefox.

Looking forward to the one at Gasworks.