This has been making the rounds in the past few days. The city of Sarasota Springs, New York filled in the bowl at their local skatepark, essentially because the coping was damaged and the bowl was covered in graffiti, and they couldn’t afford the upkeep, what with having to pay people to make sure the helmets were strapped. It’s just one big long list of lame excuses. Must not be much of a big scene there, if the locals let that happen. Read all about it in the Saratogian. Kevin Cann pointed me to some video of the bowl, he regularly made the journey there from the Great White North. Looks like it would have been fun.
24 comments
idahosk8gringo
Unbelievable. Someone get a shovel!
shvitz
Weaksauce.
michael
fucking lame! Hey stupid hipster kid that cant spell and wrote on the back of the full pipe at pier “fuck bicyles” it was painted over the next day(yesterday).
tito
NO!
skaterhusseindave
So if someone hits the local police station with graffiti will they bury that?
kevin
i dont understand this thing was killer. when we would travel south to skate it we were always the only ones skating it.there was only one pool block damaged and i was going to fix it.the pool had very little graffiti
and was grippy as hell. it was a tight pool and really not even.this never would of happened on the west coast or in montreal.i am deeply saddened
Rich
Uhhh? Maybe some of the local skaters in Saratoga Springs, NY should step-up and remedy this situation. Can’t believe that the city can’t afford the “maintenance.” Sounds more like a power move by someone not hip to the round wall. Like the Beastie’s say “You gotta fight for your rights.”
ssk
Dig it out!!!
curtis
reading the artical and comments from locals, it seems like the town has some screwy political issues. it looks like this was done without notifying the public at all. I bet there is the remains of a mafia execution buried in there.
if they don’t dig it out, it will make a future urban legend http://www.northwestskater.com/oldkennewick.html
bailgun
rich-“a power move by someone not hip to the round wall”
like some street plaza advocates are somehow responsible?
conahan
Maybe they can put a miniramp in that spot now that that hole is filled in.
Rich
Naw more like some uninformed politico that just sees the skatepark as not important.
curtis
I say don’t wait for the city to be smart. someone should just go get that coping and make something free to skate.
scum
go to the apartment complex next to izzys on 82nd and look by the parking lot. Looks just like this. Get some shovels fool.
michael
SE 82nd close to powell? I am there! Where da shovels at?
ssk
Organize a candlelight vigil or something. Contact the media. Set up an online petition.
The bowl is still there! Seems like it wouldn’t take much to reclaim it.
Poulin
Man that sucks…
Kevin, are you any closer to getting us our own concrete bowl in NDIP ?
Jethro Skynard
I lived in Saratoga when there was just some clapped out wooden ramps that very few people skated. I was amazed when I heard they built an honest to goodness bowl there after I left. I am not amazed that it was eventually filled in. The town is basically a bunch of college students who are devoted to drinking, a few rich refugees from downstate and not much else. Sad that it happened, but I doubt its the start of a nation wide trend.
tkn
thats stupid, but at least they didn’t destroy the bowl and it can be dug out when people finally pull their head out their poopchute
kevin
poulin , yes i am closer to gettin a pool in ndip. thursday i will meet the city rep and the planner to start the process. maybe saratonian will come north then to skate our pool.
Talentlessquitter
Plant a tree.
Enjoy the tree.
bailgun
it does make a really good flat gap now…. push like hell, kids.
curtis
I thought it would make a poetic street gap, but you would need to butcher those blue prefab ramps in the back ground and get a launcher. the irony of the story is that those prefab ramps are still there. personal experience tells me they are a health hazard as far as slickness goes.
but seriously FREE COPING!! there should be some scumbags from less affluent areas nearby who could use the free materials. the city WILL have to dig this thing out to get the next guy elected. the Mayor should win the election with a platform that includes diging out the bowl and gracing it with Tedder coping or some other “made to skate” coping.
lou sassel
Build you own, dig it out – take a shit on top of it, who cares – cross Saratoga Springs off your places to visit list