Here’s the latest iteration of the Gabriel Park skatepark design from AirSpeed Skateparks. The public meeting where they presented this was not well attended so they are looking for more input. The comment period ends on next Monday, so get on over there and give them some feedback. You can see larger versions of the renderings after the jump.
The discussions on this one have been around the idea of a snake run with some factions arguing strongly for a retro snake run. It would be great for AirSpeed to get useful feedback and suggestions about this design. You can comment here.
Kilwag butts in – Feedback on this post is nice, but the people that really need to read it are over here.
We spaced on the meeting as well, must have been a busy week. Personally, and I know this is going to elicit some groans, but now that I’ve actually seen a snake run rendered for the allocated square footage, I’m thinking this spot may not be big enough to get it done properly. We’ll likely only get one chance at a snake run. (Who wants more than one anyway?) This looks like it’s about half the size it needs to be. Gabriel Park might not be the best location for it, but it might be to late to reverse directions. That’s what we get for not going to the meetings.
158 comments
jack
That park sucks, Geth sucks and airspeed is a joke.
You make shit Geth and you don’t care.
We don’t like you. You are a Red wannabe who could never
stand up and be real.
You are a bad skatepark designer.
Don’t even bother the N.W with your crap.
All your park suck almost as much as PTR parks.
LEt the real pros build them for us.(Dreamland & Grindline)
Kilwag
Step ahead of you, but we haven’t been there since they were just excavating.
Check it out.
Abegnegal
I thought you guys would be interested to know that they broke ground a couple of weeks ago. Seems like there’re a few modifications too.
corncobcock
you guys are detectives who are watching…but anyway this parkk, no freeestyle area? where am i gonna POGO! oh, at the show. tangent…Dr. Know is tonite..fff. Brad K. thanks for the grenades, they went off in the box. the other ingredients are also nice. signed, Chris Cook
houseofneil
I saw Nig Heist supporting Black Flag on their 1985 UK tour. Nobody had heard of either band, so there were about 50 assorted punks and herberts at the club. Lots of vaseline spikes and leather and studs. The GBH crew. Imagine their surprise when the clean cut singer of Nig Heist came up and started into “tight little pu**y”. The punk rockers were appalled. I laughed my ass off.
brad
I’ll give you a copy next time I see you…Somebody needs to interview Mugger more…
conahan
There was an album? I always loved the FTW song.
brad
The Nig Heist album is actually pretty good- I would’ve thought it to be horrible. His has got to be one the Top 5 rags to riches tales ever.
conahan
Mugger is independently wealthy from his tech investments which were funded by his SST buyout money. A long way from the Nig Heist.
corncobcock
i agree with the Spanky kid. Ihope its not that fairy from the mags…signed, Mugger
lindsey
dude has anyone been to frikin anthem that is the the best park you hooligans should be talking about
Greg N
Are they going to allow bicycles at Gabriel Skate park? My only problem with the design is that it seems like the kinda park that bikes could just blow out anyone on the other side of a blind hip. Are there any plans to have a skate park that respects the difficulty of riding a simple board on wheels?
mc
I went to a meeting to look at the final drawings last night. It’s in permitting and should break ground in mid to late March which is delayed but word is it should be finished on schedule in June? July? Sorry , I can’t recall. The final is similar to the basic layout here but slightly more open. Placement of rolled lips and coping will provide for lots of ways to skate it, speed carving, launches, transfers, miniramping, bowling, There are some ledges/pads on the deck too.
Abegnegal
So, when is this thing breaking ground? They’re suppose to start in January,no?
chain skate
if you build it, I will cum.
Mac
Funny, my friends and I would have killed to have something like this to skate in the 70’s. All we had were wooden ramps, some in our driveways. We used to do this thing where we would get towed by speeding cars into the ramp, but it always ended with someone hitting their head on a rock. Weird.
Dogman
We laughed our asses off at bullshit like that in the 70’s. Better get BACK TO THE DRAWIN BOARD!!!!
Bag
I was going to write something super significant, but I just read that entire thread, and I’m all worn out. Do use guys skate with the same amount of energy you use to bitch at each other? Is there gonna be 15 more of the awesomely productive threads? Don’t forget to save some energy to bitch about the next parks.
Lmobb
jeeez,this got pretty damn heated.. I think portland is very fortunate to have fellas like geth. He has done some interesting features,whether or not all agree if they funtion. he has a clear vision that every skatepark have its own uniqueness. evryone will thank him for that one day,even the haters…
I have a vision too.. mine involves niel being run over by a car
alex morris
fuck airspeed can do way better than that. I dont see way you people wont just let them them do what they do best make gnarly ass skateparks.
anotherdude
What if you just put tranny walls around the perimeter in whatever shape and then put bumps/burms like santa rosa or that bc park in the middle. They could snake and maybe not just be bumps but dip down lower than the flat bottom too. Have the whole thing be downhill (like it is). The extention aspect of the deep is totally lame, it would be way more usefull to have a channel, loveseat, or deathbox or all. I have never seen a roman end in a park, that would be cool too!
Also, it is important that bumps are definitely not just tranny walls with roll over lip, but full on ollie friendly humps and also burms (or whatever you call the Santa Rosa style bumps?)
Dick cancer
Marek, my Czech buddy.
Is that the best you can come up with? Go check yourself my Czech friend. Take a bath you stinky Czech, I’m from AMERICA. The greatest country in the universe. Your lucky I still like you, or I’d have your smith grinding ass deported straight back to the dark ages of Prague…
Marek
hey, dick, eversince you are such a good speller you should know that CHECK is something your mama would have to give to somebody to teach you how to skate. im from CZECH, buddy:)
XFRYARX
is there a dick cancer newsletter or fanclub ? there should be .
spanky
pussies…fuck skateboarding..build your own shit…the reason skateparks are being built is to keep us off the streets…skateboarding is fuckin punk rock. Ride everything, listen to gg allin…Make us hated again…
Dick cancer
Geth,
I missed you in Canby? I have been to your meetings up in Multnomah village, not once but twice. I am anonymous but if you want a buddy, I think you are a pretty nice guy, I don’t know if it was your wife or girlfriend that was with you up there but you both seem pretty nice and I think the crew of AS can build something radical if they want.
Don’t peter out and cave into “Grover mentatlity” or Neil bitching. Portland can use a third kick ass super feature. I want to skate upside down. NO, I haven’t been upside down in Reesport but I need to go upside down sometime and why drive five hours when you guys are thinking about doing something right here…. YOU KOOKS voted to leave out double funnel SUCK!!! Neil, I had all kinds of beer to share and YOU SUCK TO!!! Marek, you voted against DF and your check ass sucks even though you have stinky feet and I still like you… WHY NOT COME DOWN TO KLAMATH FALLS THIS LABOR DAY WEEKEND FOR A FEW SECONDS, JUST A FEW SECONDS AND SEE WHAT A LOT OF US LIKE BUT MOST ARE TO LAZY TO COME AND SKATE….or some are to scared to skate. No excuses. I’ll be there the whole weekend, because that’s me annual skate weekend. Every year K falls for labor day, last year I caught Grosso and Mountain killing it or was that the year before. It’s all cool baby, I trust AS to build whatever they like, just build it and Phuc whoever complains about it being this and being that, phuc’em. they don’t skate the real anyway.
duder
I hear that. Just make it and screw what everyone wants. I like screwed up parks that are all tight. do the worst job possible please. No matter what its going to be good cause its down the street.
geth
So I skated Canby the other day with a bunch of good friends who rip. Canby is not perfect by a long shot, it has kinks, rough spots and fucked up trnny. But it was super fun! The fact that it was built totally wrong is what makes it totally sick!
So it really doesnt matter what we build, if you show up with a crew of positive people yer gonna have a blast.
Dick, no one seems to know who you are, you didn’t show up to skate, never showed at any meetings, apparently you dont even exist! So what are you hiding from?
houseofneil
No worries, I’m older than anybody on the site probably: I’ve got pads enough for everybody. Even you, tough guy.
Kilwag
Stop mumbling Johhny
Jaymeerism
In the early 90’s I remember city money for a city skatepark going to an indoor park, that was pay to ride that no longer exists! I remember Burnside being built at the same time with donations, pocket change & hustling. That was it period.
I think Someone is crying Please “Call the Whaah-mbulance!”
Conahan
Fascinating to watch him try to string words together in coherent form. It
johnnybgood
dont worry house of neil..your little but buddies wont ban you from this site…they just might make you wear pads…
jonnybgood
houseof neil dont worry your little butt buddies wont ban you from this “cool” site
Kilwag
Stop mumbling, Neil
Dick cancer
Hey, I just want to say, I love the work SPS has done and I enjoy all aspects of skating and even more thank DREAMLAND for doing a GREAT job and keeping it real. Neil is one 34 year OLD MAN. It’s time to either skate with NEIL or completely stop responding to his complaints. The squeeky wheel gets the “grease”, or we crush it and replace it with a good wheel….
houseofneil
you all know that this guy isn’t me, right? Just want to make that clear to everybody.
Conahan
Why should you do any work on your own when other people are stupid enough to allow you to feed off their work? Jesus, no wonder old men become republicans. Democracy is a wonderful thing except for all the parasites. But then, I hate the generation above me just the same with their wars and their homemade security and football stadiums. Fuck those guys.
Naw, of course you are welcome to your opinions, Neil and you have some valid points. We just get tired of hearing complaints after doing all the work. Shit, we’d love to have someone do it for us, we were just the only ones who bothered to step up. Unfortunately my philosophy based on my development over thirty-five years of skateboarding hell, after five years of skateboarding puts pool skating at the pinnacle. Skating on the driveway was way back at the beginning of progression and so I just naturally assume anyone who wants to progress will want to skate a pool.
So I’m wrong. My personal experience as a skateboarder has no bearing on what a skateboarder would want. Hmm. tonight at Glenhaven there were 0 skaters in the peanut when I got there but after we started skating I counted 17 guys around the peanut, 10 in the mid bowl and 21 the rest of the park (not counting bikes or fruitboots.)
I can describe my insane reaction to not getting the parks I want. I volunteered hundreds of hours in meetings, fundraising, being a good citizen, design, labor, building websites, thinking and posting and commenting and writing, and telling people about meetings. That was insane considering all the grief we get about the few bowls we get to skate.
If I was only building stuff I wanted to skate we’d have a big indoor vert ramp and a lot more pools. I have spent a lot of time trying to come up with stuff for other people to skate. No one else was standing in line.
Younger people have been doing a lot of work on the Ed Benedict project. I am so happy about that but I wonder if they might try to accomodate people who don
Neil
why would i start my own site, when it is so easy and entertaining to just comment on your silly little scene? i seriously can’t believe how riled up you guys get when someone just questions the designs of the PUBLIC skateparks being built. i don’t want to even imagine your insane reactions, if you weren’t already getting the exact parks you want?
oh yeah. in regards to the latest gabriel park design–that 90degree hip in the shallow(?) end is dumb. there are corners immediately on both sides of it. where are you supposed to air to? or is it just for pinner airs? the hip also prevents grinds or lip tricks all the way through those corners. and how about a basic back and forth “street” zone along one side of the park. even just a ledge, a flat rail, and a manual pad that could each be hit in a row.
XFRYARX
wow , hey neil, did you complain about the car your parents bought you too? learn to ride all terrain , its called skateboarding. its also called being spoiled.
jf
Glenhaven’s mid bowl is so much fun, I don’t know what you’re talking about man.
Kilwag
Neil, look at the site plans for the final design. Measure the square footage. It is more than half street, even if you count the mid bowl as well, a bowl.
It sounds to me like you won’t be happy with anything, and you obviously have no concept of what the actual process has been like. Time to start your own web site, and staff your own advocacy group. Good luck with that, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Conahan
Well, we feel sorry for you. I think you are suffering from a short wall complex. You should try to feel good about yourself. Try this affirmation:
Neil
glenhaven is not more than half street. plus, dreamland should be ashamed of that medium sized bowl. they finally build something with normal trannys and adequate flat-bottom and then they use one of the stupidest designs i’ve ever skated.
am i supposed to feel sorry for the SPS key figures? it seems to me that they got four parks designed and built how they wanted and constructed by the company they wanted.
johnnybgood
ohhh yea i forgot ROLLERDERBY too…that gets you totaly laid…Ride to ROLLERDERBY on your ten speed with cowboy boots and some art under your arm…Now your talking!!!
Kilwag
Welsh Pete – after Ed benedict, nothing is planned. There is no money. The key figures in SPS are burned out, and will probably be stepping down. Who can blame them with everyone bitching about the fruits of their labor? Someone needs to step up and fill their shoes. It means more than just showing up to meetings where the funding has already been secured, that’s the easy part. I don’t think the average Portland skater realizes how much SPS (portland) has done for them, street terrain included. Without them there would be the old crappy Pier Park and that’s it.
Kilwag
These days aren’t much different from the 80’s. There was a lot skateboard as fashion accessory back then too, and certainly a lot of stupid fashions. In the 80’s it was neon and a wristful of watches or floppy Jimmy Z hats, 90’s – ridiculous baggy pants, 00’s it’s tight jeans or hiphop styles with your pants hanging off your ass. This generation of posers is no worse than the others.
Kilwag
Street skating vs tranny skating arguments – who cares? To each his own. This thread is supposed to be about a new park design that has tranny. Ed Benedict will have street, and only street.
Glenhaven is more than half street, and it was the last big spot built. The medium bowl gets a lot of use and is correspondingly smaller in square footage. The other bowl has very small footprint by comparison.
Before you diss the “geezers” you ought to thank them for conceiving of the skatepark plan and making it happen so you have something to complain about in the first place.
oldfatjeff
Ban the flip tricks.
jf
Kinda agree…skateboarding is a fashion trend right now (see Avril Lavigne post). Every kid is wearing Adio shoes and a Volcom shirt and pretend to be a skater, what will happen when Sheckler and Rob Dyrdek retire? those kids are going to be into bmx or extreme pogo stick next. Let’s build parks for people who really skate. Show up at the next park meeting!