Great thread on Concrete Disciples about a guy who took his kids to Burnside and got vibed by the locals. His threats to start a petition to try to get Burnside closed ruffled a few feathers. Abuse is heaped, the terrorists win. Pretty funny that he ends up getting vibed on the website too! I’m going to go out on a limb and call the TimK SnA’s Douchebag of the Week. I’m guessing his next petition will try to close down the Indy500 because they wouldn’t let his kids ride their pedal cars on the track.
14 comments
Glenn
As a 43 year old skater with 10 and 13 year old kids who skate i’d love to know what Timk and his kids were doing, I bet he’s the kind of dad who stands there, glowing with parental pride while his kids stand in the bottom of a bowl learning to ollie with a “my kids have as much right as anyone…” attitude. We’ve been skating for six years and you gotta play the game to fit in, sure, there are always gonna be a few guys with attitude that don’t want to see little kids and old men skating, it doesn’t fit in with their pathetic self image but you have to say “screw them”, let them sit in a corner with a beer and weed and get on with letting your kids progress. But then again, i’ve lost count of the time that some turd turns up and encourages his four year old daughter to ride her barbie bike in circles between the ramps at my local park. 9 times out of 10 the locals say nothing, occasionally some dickhead on a BMX will land tricks inches away from the offending kids to try to scare parents, who are often sat on the edge of the park reading the paper, what a way to communicate… I regularly have to talk to these parents myself. Anyway, long since being a problem for me, my 13 year old is one of the best in the area anyway and skates with the older guys but there are unwritten, obvious rules when taking little kids to parks, i’ve had zero trouble in six years, Timk must be a dick.
Jaymeericle
The supposed local was a random gutter punk w/ no business. The complain dude James will dissappear. 5-0 will be common presence around the skatepark for a while. The park has good relations w/ the city and police so it will stay that about Sums it up.
YEah Conahan I try not too, I need to skate more to let it all out. I still really let people dig into me, I just want to set the record strait sometimes. Fighting with words on the internet is not much different than in person just less informal and you can’t strangle them. The Bars drinking, and getting crazy, doesnt work anymore. If I didn’t skateboard I would have to be a Drunk painting manaic or in a strait jacket. lol
Conahan
Jay, you shouldn
Jaymeericle
Damn that must of took an Hour of Work to Read, but this is more important than work, right? I wrote a story to sum up my take I hope you will find it as enjoyable as the rest of this blogging entertainment. Basically this is another person creating a membership on concrete disciples so they can post stuff to try to create negative press for a personal agenda revenge/satisfaction motivation/situation.
If you can
Rich
Rad pic of b-side MC.
Chad
I am down there almost every day. It’s on the way home from work for me.
For the most part, if someone gives you shit – youve got it comming. Sure there are exceptions – some times certain dudes (not naming names on the interweb) might be in a foul mood and act in such a manner – but more often than not its cool. One time Kenny kicked me out for life ’cause I wouldn’t give him 2 bucks (he still feels bad about it, I think)
If ol’ TimK was half as bad in real life as he is on the interweb, then I wish him the best of luck….
chaperone
I haven’t read TimK’s diatribe on Burnside and the like, but I can comment on my own and my children’s experience there. We have been there many times over the past three years and have never caught an ounce of shit whatsoever. Perhaps it’s because we know what we are getting into and understand and appreciate what Burnside represents. Also, the kids I bring there can skate and will always respect the locals. They like to learn new lines and will listen and observe.
We spent Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun nights at Burnside during the Dew tour (everybody clap) weekend, and Friday night was one of the funnest nights we had in town. Burnside was a big rockin’ party, the kids skated, got some props, had some fun. We drank PBR’s (too old and broken to skate Burnside).
And we did not see one person being accosted or harrassed.
Kilwag and Conahan are exactly correct in their analogies of the basketball court and Fallujah. One night at Burnside there were several kids there (from the Dew tour, no doubt) about 12 or 13 yrs old just pissing around the park. They could barely stay on their boards and their parents had no idea what was going on, a bad situation waiting to happen. You could see the locals getting worked up…. my kids were getting irritated. We left. Burnside is made for skating, not to bring the whole family for a BBQ and picnic.
Burnside has done a great deal for making that area of southeast more viable for all, especially skaters. If you choose to go there, or anywhere you haven’t been before, maybe you should explore what it’s about before you show up with your children.
Paige
Burnside/street skating is not dog-friendly, either!
http://forums.portlandmercury.com/showthread.php?t=2386&highlight=skate
Paige
It’s interesting to me that TimK distinguishes between locals and taxpayers. If I needed to resort to generalizations to understand what he means, it’s that suit and ties (“taxpayers” to TimK, puppets to me) view skateparks as places to occupy the persona non grata, or the scum of the city who spange and view Milwaukee’s Best as acceptable beverage (“locals” to TimK, some of my best friends). If I was to go to Burnside, the last thing I would expect is Bob Saget teaching the Olsen twins how to shred the place apart.
I also don’t understand how some dickheads make you think someone will get raped at Burnside. Skateboards are formidable weapons if necesary. I hate to sound feminist at all, but it’s about how you carry yourself. Women don’t necessarily need men at all for protection. Square your shoulders, stand up straight, act proud of yourself and cool as a cucumber. Just be cool, don’t appear a target. Some of the toughest broads I’ve ever met have been 5’2″ and 90 pounds.
Mike G
You guys are right! I just simply had a hell of an experience years back, it was like a pack of wild hyenas. and yes the rape comment was uncalled for, sorry. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
True, there ARE plenty of places to take your family, it was his bad decision.
I knew I should just have kept my mouth shut, rather disciplined my fingers better…
LONG LIVE BURNSIDE
Kilwag
Also, I lose all chance of sympathy for that guy when he starts making fun of those in the teaching profession for being losers. Great set of standards this guy has, I’m surprised “lawsuit” wasn’t in his initial post.
Conahan
A douchebag, literally. He wants to sanitize Burnside! I
Kilwag
Ahhh. Yeah. I side with Conahan.
I don’t pretend to hang out there on a regular basis, I barely frequent it. Burnside is what Burnside is. You should know where you are bringing kids before you bring them there. I’ve seen kids that young there before without incident. Burnside has it’s own code of ethics, if you don’t like it, don’t go there.
I found it telling that he started going on about being a taxpayer and contacting all kinds of city and state offices. He’s clueless. It’s unfortunate that the people he experienced there were dicks, but it’s their scene and that’s how they choose to comport themselves. Burnside is not a playground. I highly doubt TimK would prattle on about being a taxpayer and other nonsense if he went to a basketball court in the projects with his kids and got vibed by the locals.
As for the threat of girls getting raped at Burnside? That’s a bit over the top. Women skate there all the time actually. I can’t speak to your exact experience because I wasn’t there, but I’d bet they were harassing her specifically to get a rise out of you. However, I have been to many a public skatepark meeting in Portland where the predominant police and local businesses opinion is that area is much better off for having the Burnside project.
If the locals are acting in way that truly threatens the existence of the park, then they will likely get bounced out of there by those who cherish it.
Sadly, the whole point might become moot anyway once the city starts their eventual plans for redevelopment of that area. Burnside as we know it (or don’t as in Timk’s case) will likely be razed and replaced with something more family friendly.
Mike G
Douchebag of the Week???? please explain MC….
To me I interpret your comment as you condoning their actions and that the dad was wrong in taking offense to the local trash.
I had a similar experience when I moved here with the homeless locals there too. I just happened to bring my blonde wife there and the verbal harassment she received was unbelievable! I feared for her safety. We ended up leaving before my temper got the best of me.
All it takes is for one girl to get rapped or beaten to a bloody pulp down there and then Burnside will be all over.
I would like to see your reaction if this happened to your family Mark.
People can f**k with me all they want, but if they mess with a persons family, that