Beavertron novice roundup

Rick went to the meeting and wrote a recap. My favorite part is this excerpt.

The committee and THPRD have no plan at all to keep more advanced skaters or bikes out of the novice park. In fact, they seemed very surprised, and somewhat dismayed, that the “advanced” (in years, if not ability) skaters and bikers at the meeting thought the new park looked fun and that we did plan to ride there when it opens.

I love it when park officials get dismayed that a park looks fun. You can read the whole story and see some renders of the proposed site after the jump.

Tualatin Hills Novice Skatepark

I couldn’t find any pictures at Grindline or the parks site, but I did grab these from Nebraskabowlrider’s photobucket feed via Sleestak. Imagine that. People have reviled my endorsement of a skate park built for beginners in an area relatively saturated with bigger parks. I’ve rethought it and I’m on the fence. Sometimes still think it’s a good idea if only to keep the groms out from underfoot. However, it’s pretty clear from reading Rick’s narration that the idea has failed in that sense. They have designed a great small skate spot that will be built adjacent to and subsequently overrun by the existing users of the current park. Looks fun as hell to me. I’ll go check it out for sure.

Here’s Ricks write up:

Went to this meeting. This is an attempt at a brief recap (I’m not real good at “brief”).

Apparently, this Novice Skatepark concept has been cooking for 7 years, in which time of course, skatepark design has progressed greatly. Unfortunately, the people planning this park have not. Although they hired Grindline to do the final design and build, the funding was gained over the years with the comittment to build the novice park, so their hands were basically tied. They seem convinced that, because some older kids and bikers ride the old ramp park, that must be an “advanced area”, and if they build a “novice” area, that everything will magically self-regulate so that just the little kids and slow old guys will want to ride the novice park. These people definitely mean well (they did hire Grindline…) and they were very positive about skating as an activity, but they are sticking to the plan and aren’t real open to new ideas on this park. It’s a done deal. There were as many bikers as skaters at the meeting (about 5 of each, with a few parents and someone from Skaters For Public Skateparks) along with the committee and Micah, the Grindline guy. Only two little guys, though, and they brought a very nice poster with their own design ideas. They will like the new park.

The new area will be directly adjacent to the ramp park (this will not help the “novice self regulation” one bit). The design is a small, but very fun looking mini-snake into a 5 ft. bowl, some rails, ledges, bumps, a curb, low tranny around the edges, basic but slightly shrunk down street elements, really. It actually looks like it will be a great park to learn and goof around in, so I think they nailed the brief if they are shooting for grom appeal. A fly-out track was suggested, and likely will be added. The new area will be about 8600 sq/ft, if I remember correctly.

The committee and THPRD have no plan at all to keep more advanced skaters or bikes out of the novice park. In fact, they seemed very surprised, and somewhat dismayed, that the “advanced” (in years, if not ability) skaters and bikers at the meeting thought the new park looked fun and that we did plan to ride there when it opens. I saw no reason to believe that the issues they perceived in the original park, with groms being intimidated by bikes and big guys, won’t occur in the new “novice park”. They are definitely in a ski area mindset, that the terrain dictates the level of ability. Yes, bikes will definitely be allowed to use the “novice” park.

All in all, it was less a meeting for input, and more to show the new design. They are planning to break ground in April and get it in for May, so they aren’t wasting any more time. As far as future Beaverton skateparks go, this would require significant bureaucratic effort and fund-raising. If it took 7 years to get another novice skatepark right next to the existing outdated one, I can’t imagine that a big, modern park is around the corner. One of the park guys there seemed intrigued with the idea of small skate spots in other parks (like West Linn, Vancouver, or Holly), so maybe these could be snuck in. They felt that the “novice park” was a “baby step” toward building a bigger park someday (“We have to prove that this “novice park” is a success before we move on to bigger skateparks.”) Definitely outdated thinking. It’s Beaverton, what can I say?

Luckily, there are plenty of other places to go for big, if you have a car. Unfortunately, most of these kids don’t, so they’ll have to be happy with their back to back mini-parks. I think most of them actually will, as long as they don’t get taken out by a biker, or me.

Later,
Rick (Mac)