Skaters mad about concrete skateparks?

Ok first off, this is not the best illustration. There is a lot of stock photography with business guys shouting, but not so much of skater dudes shouting. Imagine the megaphone in the skater’s hand instead. Jacksonville Florida city officials held one of those “feedback” public skatepark meetings where they unveiled plans for the city’s new skatepark. The crowd of 50 or so skaters became angered when they realized the city was going to railroad through precast concrete obstacles from a company called Pillar Design Studios out of Tempe Arizona. Pillar looks like it is one of those landscape architecture firms dabbling in skateparks. They appear to have quite a few skateparks under their belts, just don’t look for any actual pictures of them on their web site. I’d find that disconcerting if I was a skateboarder living in a town that was about to hire that firm. They have a few links to external sites with sparing amount of pictures. I followed one at random and it showed a bunch of prefab Woodward metal ramps. Pillar also does motocross and bike only parks(?) as well as “Action Sports Facilities” with go cart tracks!

Meanwhile back in Jacksonville, Shorelines reported:

One man, who was among about 12 adult skateboarders in the room, questioned why the city chose Spohn Ranch and was using pre-cast concrete. He asked if there was any public input in the decision and if it was too late to rebid the project.

“That’s a concern of everyone here,” he said. “Why didn’t we have any say in this?”

Another man said he didn’t want “putt-putt golf with a Sawgrass budget.”

“We just want to feel like we’re getting our money’s worth,” another man shouted.

The story’s headline “Skate park meeting has dispute over concrete” made me think it was going to be an article about a street versus tranny debate. I’d like to hear from anyone who has skated a Pillar Design Studios park. Although the company started in 2006, the president, Brad Siedlecki claims to be a longtime skater:

I took this goal with me to college where I studied Architecture and Landscape Architecture and incorporated skateboarding into the design intent of every class project. It was during this time I realized it wasnt just the municipalities that needed to be educated about skateboarding, but also my college professors  architects and landscape architects who saw skateboarding as a destructive hobby that destroyed the urban landscapes they created. Despite being told by these professors that skateboarding and landscape architecture dont mix, I proceeded to incorporate skateboarding into every design.

That’s an interesting quote. I’d actually like see some of those designs, but I can understand why a professional wouldn’t include his college projects on the corporate site. Still, I find it hard to believe that a a long time skater would advocate for prefab skateparks, concrete or not. If you want to follow the Jacksonville story more, Pillar Design Studios has a feedback area that you have to log into. ( User: southbeach Password: jaxbeach )