Discussion

57 thoughts on “go to meetin’”

  1. Troy on December 1, 2009 - Reply

    On a Sunday Go to meetin bun.

  2. kilwag on December 1, 2009 - Reply

    Ha ha ha. Ouch.

  3. Grover on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    Maybe you should have advocated for more wheel chair ramps.

  4. Drunk Andy on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    easier to ask for forgiveness than permission…

  5. Colinwalshrules on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    start a non profit and raise your own money, portland isnt going to hold your hand the whole way.

  6. Rico on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    Sadly I was at that meeting too and it does seem like the city doesn’t have any money to spare. However, I do also know that the city has some really overwhelmed grant writers that could help them get the funds for the city if they weren’t trying to keep all the other programs afloat. Maybe someone should volunteer some grant writing time?

  7. Helpemergency on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    I’ve laid back and I can’t get up

  8. bailgun on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    open mouth, insert foot.

  9. Gnarles Copinghagen on December 2, 2009 - Reply

    I live in the Camas Washougal area. There are a whole lot of ball fields. Nobody is in them! Seasonaly yes, but only for a few hours here and there. The park here has people skating every day the weather allows, and it’s a crappy park. We (skaters) have a friend in the parks department but the city will not shell out any money to improve the park. We’ll keep asking and he’ll keep pushing. It would take so little to make the park here better. This piece of shit was built for a ton of money on a no bid contract by a relative of a city council member. Pisses me off.

  10. DaddyYo on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Gnarles – I looked at your skatepark’s web site at http://www.cwskatepark.org/. The skaters in your town have done a good job with so little support from the government.

    You mentioned the number of ball fields and the population those fields serve. This statistic gets mentioned all the time as an example of the inequity of skatepark square footage. It is true and a good example to mention. Add basketball and tennis courts into the calculations and the gap gets even bigger.

    I am starting to realize that there is one thing those sports have that skateboarding doesn’t that allow those sports to grab a bigger piece of the city money pie.

    Skateboarders have traditionally avoided organizing themselves except when it is time to lobby for a skatepark. Until then, cities have no way of knowing how many skaters there are and how committed they are to the sport. There are baseball and basketball leagues and teams everywhere.

    I have been thinking of organizing a Middle and High School league in Nashville. It would be administered by the public school system and competitions would be held at our one concrete skatepark.

    I expect not to see too much opposition from the young skaters but I don’t know. I hope they recognize that the “we are rebels, artist, anarchist” pretentions of their parents and the older generation skateboarders are anachronistic and don’t apply to them. I’ll do my best to explain that sort of ancient political ideology is just minimizing their influence and resulting in fewer parks. They can decide if skating on busted sidewalks and having few skateparks is worth perpetuating the dead politics of their parents and grandparents.

    I heard that there were skateboard leagues back in the pre-punk era. Does anyone have any information about those?

    Gnarles

  11. skaterhusseindave on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Add golf courses to the equation. Lansing MI had to close two out of four public golf courses when, facing budget problems, the mayor had to look at the numbers and admit to an unfair imbalance in distribution of Parks and Rec money…. skateboarding isn’t a team sport, and when we form groups, we don’t call them leagues we call them gangs, crews, posses, and cliques… cities have known since the mid-’80s how many skaters they have based on the revenue from tickets written for the “crime” of public riding… anarchy isn’t dead politics, it’s the way of the future when humans are evolved enough to act on logic and reason instead of superstition, and religious based fear… a sizable group of skateboarders today are demonstrating the usefulness of anarchy in the DIY movement, not waiting for the government to build for them…

  12. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    I’m pretty much echoing skaterhusseindave, but I can’t really improve upon his statements…..
    DaddyYo points out the obvious, that skateboarding is mainstream now,with a better chance at acceptance as a legitimate sport. And what DaddyYo suggests as far as league’s isn’t out of the question, we had a team and ramps at the highschool I went to in AZ back in 95′, ramps and all. But skateboarding has alot to do with the individual. You can’t tell people why they skate, that they aren’t expressing themselves,or how to skate. People/kids start skating for their own reasons and that could be to be part of something, or because they don’t fit in or want to be a part of other sports.
    It’s early and I’m rambling..the bottom line is that skateboarding is different to all people. DaddyYo’s vision of an organized league is fine, and honestly, I would support that for my own kids or their school, or our city.
    But for me it is different and I’m not wrong in my perception or vision of skateboarding, its mine and I’m entitled to skate how I want and view it as I please. Just like DaddyYo is.
    A team with a coach of sorts for guidance sounds awesome, but if it’s gunna be some old hardass barking at kids at “practice” like football,I’ll pass.
    That is another thing that sets skateboarding apart- that it can be punk to some, not to others.
    You can skate in groups,or on your own.
    You can go your own way with it and I don’t think that will ever change.

  13. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    And Gnarles, I’ve been to the Wash/Camas park a few times its not thaaat bad…decent ledge, banks.
    I live in Ridgefield tho, have you seen that shit?

  14. Thor on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    That Ridfield park is sweet. Go Spudders!

  15. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Hahaha, yes Thor, go Spudders indeed.
    Best football team in Clark County,right? I love it tho, love my house, the town, and glad we have some lil’ ramps and flatbars in contrast to nothing at all. Which is what the city has budgeted-nothing at all.

  16. Buenaventura Durruti on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Indeed, we need to get rid of the “anarchist, artist rebel pretensions” and create a legit ‘sport.’ I want to have some sporting fun with my teammates at the training facility on the weekends. We can coach our children. Get them ready for the Olympics. Perhaps the first step would be to ban skateboarding- from the streets. ‘Street skating’ is not much better than graffiti anyway. Then we can introduce standardized techniques, uniforms and equipment guidelines. Let’s clean this shit up and get us some more skateparks!

  17. Thor on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    You know it Jake. 100% Spudder. Class of 83. I would love to see a more permanent skatepark there. I know the city does have some land set aside they have designated for a skate spot but as I am sure you are well aware of, the city government in that town has been involved with one scandal after another for some time now.

  18. Carl on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    I agree the Camas park sucks a choade. Gnarles, hit me up at skatepdx.org and start meeting up for some evening sessions in Van. We have a lit up, covered concrete flat at a school by my house that gets skated pretty heavily.

  19. Youcommie on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    DY, I’m sure that’s how they’re doing it in China. Right down to the political indoctrination. But I don’t see them jumping the Great Wall or ruling the Shanghai park, and an acquaintence went over there and won a little (by our prize standards) pro contest, so it may not be working out…. (Leading by example might be more influential.) On the other hand, they, not we, have that Shanghai super-park (but it doesn’t amount to much per capita, and they probably don’t get to ride it much).

  20. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    @Thor: Yeah…I hear ya on that.

    @Conahan: Ah..haha yes,and don’t forget shaking hands and congratulating rippers rather than barbarically banging our skateboards on the ground,yuck!
    Shaking hands builds more character, right soldier?

    Anyway the kind of organized situation I’d be okay with my kids participating in is highly unlikely in this lifetime.

  21. Fitz on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Daddy-Yo–

    Why don’t you lose that chip on your shoulder?

    You think you dislike the punk/core/cool guy thing? Try living in Portland.

    I long ago learned that it can’t be changed, and so I just ride my skateboard–when, where, and how I choose to. You simply alienate yourself by constantly decrying various factions. By naming them, you give them an indentity, and therefore, power.

    Occasionaly, you make some good arguments, but you rapidly devolve into boring rants. Give it a rest. Nobody much cares.

    As I’m sure you’ve heard, you’ll collect more flies with honey…

    Time to revise those tactics. Good luck.

  22. rebel, artist, anarchist on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    slapping boards on the coping? no.
    slapping each other’s asses? yes.
    bring jocko homo-eroticism to skating.

  23. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Even better, we could have drunken face-painted rowdy idiots in bars screaming AND fighting about a sport they don’t play,for schools they didn’t go to!

    Or: “Would you like to help the Camas Ollie Cats make to the regional skate-offs by purchasing a delicious $7 chocolate bar”? “Plleeeease Mister, it’s for a good cause and we just beat the BattleGround Lurkers”.

  24. skaterhusseindave on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Time for a confession. I wore a team uniform for a skate shop demo/charitable fundraiser back in 1986 and thought it was cool as hell… Grover probably saw it… in ’89 or ’90 the mega-corp that supplied my addiction with hard goods (NHS) sent team jackets to all of us, and to this day I’m bummed I lost mine… Overall I’m happy with skateboarding’s present level of mainstream legitimacy as it allows me more places to ride, and I’m getting a chuckle out of the “cat herding” I’ve had to try to do in getting my friends to unite and attend meetings with city administrators.

  25. skaterhusseindave on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Jake, I’ve no clue how it caught on worldwide, but I started the board on coping form of applause in the ’80s exclusively for my deaf friend Bonzo. It’s not barbaric, it’s inclusive.

  26. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Haha, suuuuuuuure ya did. And I invented wearing your backpack over one shoulder, and “pegging” the bottom of your jeans.
    Seriously, that reminds me of a friend I had in AZ Alex Brand(or Deaf Alex, duh) that started his own board company.
    I asked him if it kinda sucks not being able to avoid collision at parks by hearing people behind him and shit and with a straight face he said; “No, that just means I don’t have to listen to all their bullshit”.

  27. DaddyYo on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    skaterhusseindave

  28. DaddyYo on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    conahan

  29. rebel, artist, anarchist on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    anarchy has and does exist. there are various examples from western society, including the diggers of the english civil war period, the paris commune of 1871, and the spanish civil war. the best examples, however, exist outside western civilization. gatherer/hunter societies, which are how humans have lived for 99% of the existence of the species, live with anarchistic principles at heart. it was only with the rise of agriculture and sedentary life that hierarchical society arose, and with it, the state.
    one prime example of anarchistic gatherer/hunters which still live traditionally today are the hadza, living around lake eyasi in the central rift valley of africa. for a very accessible (although far from ‘scientific’) article on the hadza, see dec 09 issue of national geographic: LINK HERE.

    every country in existence today exists because of land theft. the very land you live on was stolen as part of one of the largest genocidal events in human history. to deny such is to deny a holocaust.

    now please, return to your miserable existence in your cookie cutter retirement park, isolated from reality.

  30. jakeandannoy on December 4, 2009 - Reply

    Hooooly-Fuuuuckinshit…What was this post about?
    Oh, yeah funny comic Conahan.

  31. DaddyYo on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    Who wants to be the president of my anarchist club?

  32. JustIgnoreHim on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    DISCLAIMER: As a resident of Tennessee, please realize a certain someone does not reflect our skate scene. We just ignore him. When I say “We” I mean everybody.

  33. Fellow American on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    Here’s some “not yelled” coaching tips. First, I think you may be getting “pithy” and “pissy” confused (though less so than in the past… good progress). And you definitely seemed to be getting “anachronistic” and “antiquated” confused. Then again, I’m pretending that “leagues” necessarily imply coaching, just so I can poke fun. But I think the damned socialist kids are ahead of you on the league thing… they’re definitely more in league with one another and less localistic than the more-purely-tranny generations… probably because there tends to only be room for one skater to ollie on to an obstacle, so taking turns makes more sense to them than trying to snake a run, and some positivity ripples from there. Now, if they’d only listen to punk instead of dippy sixties music….

  34. Gnarles Copinghagen on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    I think that some kids would be into the “team” thing. Skating has gotten huge again, more then ever. Not really sure how I feel about it. I guess that that could be a way to get things done. I do really enjoy the new parks that popularity has created. Yes Camas is not that bad. You could make it a lot better with just some basic improvements. Sorry Ridgefield. Your day will come eventually I hope. At least Battleground is close! Things can change. I was raised in Woodland and never would have expected a park to be built there, but it was built, and I really like that bowl a lot. No matter how popular skating gets there will always be… Rebels. I can see it growing now. Some guys are rejecting the parks and only skating the “real” street,or real pools. Whatever the situation I will be ripping into old age.

  35. Gnarles Copinghagen on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    One more thing- The Camas park was built (from what I was told) for about the same cost as the East Vancouver park. Thats just messed up!

  36. kilwag on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    skaterhusseindave – Grover was always trying to reinstate the team uniform concept, that is, when we had a team. I tried to explain that it wasn’t socially acceptable anymore, but you know Steve. “Whaddya mean? Team uniforms are cool! It’s even more punk rock if nobody wears them anymore…”

  37. Fitz on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    Seriously pal. Get lost. You are as irritating as they come.

    You hide behind a keyboard, running your mouth, instigating, thinking you’re clever. You are talking to real people.

    Please go away. For god’s sake Kilwag, ban this moron. This site used to feature some interesting rhetoric. Not anymore.

    Now it’s nothing but arguing with an idiot. Maybe I’m the one who needs my head examined. I’m letting this fool piss me off…

    Write what you will in response. I’m done with you. Might I suggest we all do the same.

  38. Fitz on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    Apologies to the rest of the board. Not actually an aggressive person–just really fed up of this guy’s inability to regulate himself. It’s sad he can’t–we need outside voices.

  39. skaterhusseindave on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    Let him keep ranting. His mind automatically stereotypes and labels, but we MAY be broadening it. A gang is a group assembled for a common purpose.A crew is a group working together. A posse is a group of men assisting a sheriff. And a clique is an exclusive group. None of these have exclusively criminal connotations… oh, and ad hoc means “for a specific purpose” Jake, I don’t care who believes my claims when I’m typing on-line…those who were riding with me know, and that’s good enough. Grover may remember; ask him if you know him. Kilwag, maybe if they looked like bowling shirts.

  40. skaterhusseindave on December 5, 2009 - Reply

    D-Yo, East Lansing MI created a specific anti- skateboarding ordinance over twenty years ago, Lansing quickly followed suit. East Lansing’s ordinance spelled out the difference between skating as transportation, and skating for fun, i.e. trick riding. At one of the city council meetings in which these details were hammered out, a young skater’s father stood up and complained – “you are proposing a $30 fine for skateboarding, while the current penalty for possession of up to 7 grams of marijuana is only $5. What kind if message is that?” The council raised the marijuana fine to $100, and enacted the skateboarding ordinance, making clear that if you ollie you’re a criminal. Many cities that don’t name skateboards specifically have catch-all terminology like “coaster devices” to include skateboards scooters and roller skates. Skating in public was turned into a criminal act decades ago, whether or not trespassing or property damage occurred.

  41. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    skaterhusseindave – If the law says you can’t ride a skateboard on a sidewalk, it is a crime to ride a skateboard on a sidewalk. If it is legal to ride a skateboard on a sidewalk, but a property owner tells you you cannot ride a skateboard on his property, then you are trespassing if you ride a skateboard on his property.

    A criminal act is only a criminal act when it violates the law. Nothing can be “turned into” a criminal act. It either is or isn’t.

  42. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Fitz – come on pal. You love me and you know it. You’re just like the others here. You love to hate me when I’m here and you love to talk about me when I’m gone.

    You can’t quit me cowboy.

  43. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    JustIgnoreHim – Ha, you must be one of the Team
    Geritol geezers who don’t skate anymore. I guess it is easy to ignore someone sitting on your couch with a beer and a big Cheetos stain on the fat belly of your team t-shirt.

    If you ever showed up at the skatepark you’d know that I get along with people who actually skate.

  44. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    skaterhusseindave – I don’t know about the law in East Lansing over twenty years ago but here is the law in the code today.

    “Sec. 44-723. Use on streets and other public places in City Center commercial district.

    No person shall use a skateboard for any purpose on any of the public streets, sidewalks, alleys, plazas or other public places within the City Center commercial district, zoned B-3.”

    There is only a section of the city where you can’t ride on the sidewalk. Skaters caused that legislation by skating and destroying that area of town.

    You can’t ride on the street anywhere and you have to have carry written permission proving to have authorization to skate on private property.

    Seems pretty clear what is criminal and what is not.

  45. JustIgnoreHim on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    I wish so much all the people on here could see DaddyYo at the skatepark. It’s more lame than what he types. Usually he just goes to call the parks police on people or convince how much better strap ins are.

  46. curtis on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    what a bummer, how that dad did not leagalize skating in his kid’s town. but he mannaged to increase the price of pot. his comments did nothing for the cause of skating.
    so if you do “go to meeting” watch what you say. or make your argument against all the single ocupant cars. cars kill, pot is relitivly harmless. if you need to dis a smokeable plant choose tobacco. that shit will fuck you up. one toke of tobbaco gets me way higher than 10 tokes of weed, I don’t think it should be illigal, but it kills. the case of marijuana/tobacco is proof that laws are often made with hidden motives. I am not trying to debate it here, I just feel like the world forces me to be an anarchist. I’m going to do the right thing for me regardless of law, I ain’t hurting anybody. my vehicle of choice is a skateboard. next time some cop pulls me over for mongo pushing too fast, insted of my ID, I’ll show him my medical card.

  47. curtis on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    hey daddy yo, could you look up and paste or copy the law regarding human powered transportation for the city of Sandpoint Idaho? thanks.
    a few months ago I read somewhere how they legalized ALL forms of human powered vehicles in the city. Sandpoint (a very nice small city) could be a model for other cities to see how they are geekin’ it.

  48. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Except for the specified sidewalks, roadways and town square, it looks like skateboarding is open everywhere. Yahoo, get out you longboard and ride the roadways.

    I

  49. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    JustIgnoreHim – Be sure to introduce yourself to me next time you see me at the skatepark.

  50. skaterhusseindave on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Wow, I was trying not to say it, but you really are dumb…there was no law concerning skateboarding on sidewalks, it was not a crime. Then a law was made that defined some types of riding on public sidewalks as a crime…no trespass or property damage needed to occur… a manual or an ollie was TURNED INTO A CRIMINAL ACT BY PASSING LEGISLATION… it wasn’t a crime, and then it was- ‘poof’- just like that. No property damage or trespass involved. Can you hear me now?

  51. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    skaterhusseindave – I can hear you plenty well. But you are so incredibly inarticulate it is difficult to understand what you mean.

    I would be willing to bet there has always been a law in your town against riding skateboards on the roadways but not on the sidewalks. Most cities have what is referred to the

  52. Estes' Ghost on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    DaddyYo- please refrain from lecturing on S&A please- your ruining what once was a ‘DaddyYo Free-Zone’ and turning this into your own place to spew absolute non-sense. I think your ego is inflated enough now- go pop yourself like a zit.

  53. curtis on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    I think they are saying you can be out in the road as long as you follow the same traffic rules as the bikes.
    those streets and sidwalks where it’s banned are probably the busiest places.
    thanks for processing my request!

  54. jakeandannoy on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Jeez-us!Take a day off and look at all this shit here! skaterhusseindave-I believe you man. I dunno what it is about my sarcasm here but it just never seems to go down well. It’s like that time DaddyYo tried reading to sick children at Schriners Hospital(insert cutaway,use your imagination)

  55. Gnarles Copinghagen on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Thanks for the invite Carl.

  56. DaddyYo on December 6, 2009 - Reply

    Curtis – you’re welcome.

    You are right. Bikes and skateboards are considered “human powered” vehicles. Better cross reference the bike law to see if skateboards are mentioned. Just follow the link.

    I think you might find that bikes are treated like motor vehicles. That means skateboards are treated like motor vehicles on the roadways too. There are very few cities in the US that treat skateboards and bikes the same.

    I think they all should.

  57. rebel, artist, anarchist on December 7, 2009 - Reply

    real has a series right now called “roll forever 00 no league.”

    that says it all right there.

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